THE TOP 10 REASONS WHY PETROBRAS MATTERS, DEEPLY, TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A GLOBAL BIOFUELS INDUSTRY

1. Transpetro, Petrobras' subsidiary in charge of transportation, has been piping ethanol in Brazil for over thirty years. It holds the most advanced technology in the world for such operations and is currently investing USD 1.2 billion in the construction of an ethanol export corridor that comprises a pipe grid, terminals, and large ocean vessels for ethanol. With total capacity of 12 million cubic meters per year, the project is the largest of its kind anywhere in the world. More on this - including detailed technical information - is available on Transpetro's web site (in English) here.
2. Petrobras is providing technology to a number of developing countries seeking to start a biofuels industry. In Nigeria, its is investing USD 200 million to build an ethanol production facility in partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which will own 70% of the project. In Mozambique, it is working with state-owned oil company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos to research and develop biofuels there.
3. In July 2008, its biofuels subsidiary, Petrobras Biocombustivel, was working on the development of 23 joint ventures for ethanol export - a critical move in the establishment of a global biofuels market. One of the projects, developed with Mitsui & Co., aims to export ethanol to Japan, which has authorized ethanol blends of up to 3% and is a strategic market for ethanol from Brazil and other countries.
4. Petrobras researches the development of new strains of sugarcane with higher sugar content, greater resistance to pathogens, and better adaptability to various climate and soil conditions - an essential process to jumpstart ethanol production in other tropical countries that would benefit from a biofuels industry. Research is being conducted at the company's Sugarcane Integrated Agri-Industrial Center in Quissama, Rio de Janeiro state.
5. Petrobras has research agreements with a number of foreign institutions, including the United States' National Renewable Energy Laboratory, with which it is collaborating on second generation biofuels research. The research project spans all parts of the production chain, including feedstock selection, cultivation, harvesting, and distribution.
6. Petrobras is using its expertise in Brazil, energy, and biofuels to build five ethanol plants around Brazil, in partnership again with Japan's Mitsui. The main objective is to ensure supply to the Japanese market - a pre-requisite for that country to invest in the infrastructure necessary to store, distribute, and use ethanol. The strategic importance of the Japanese market goes without saying.
7. Petrobras has biofuels partnerships with a number of key players in the global energy market, including ConocoPhillips, Portugal's Galp Energia, Italy's Eni, India's Bharat Petroleum and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, the Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Mitsui & Co., and Nippon Alcohol Hanbai. With the latter, Petrobras is planning to produce ethanol in southeast Asia for export to the Chinese and Japanese markets.
8. Petrobras is working with a number of foreign companies to open up markets for biofuels abroad, including firms like Korea's Samsung, Norway's Statoil, and the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, with which the company is developing a hub to trans-ship ethanol produced in Brazil and reduce its cost, as the fuel makes its way into the highly-protected US market.
9. Petrobras operates a pilot plant for second generation ethanol at its Cenpes research center. Through enzymatic hydrolysis, it was producing 220 liters of ethanol per tonne of sugarcane bagasse in July 2008. The company is currently working to develop more efficient enzymes, supplementing efforts in other research centers, in Brazil and abroad, which seek to produce cellulosic ethanol on a commercial scale. This line of research also leads Petrobras to investigate new processes for handling bagasse for use as feedstock. As Brazil is expected to produce upwards of 600 million tonnes of sugarcane this year, bagasse is considered the most viable feedstock worldwide for the production of cellulosic ethanol.
10. Petrobras is the lowest-cost producer of biodiesel in Brazil. It has three plants around Brazil and is working to develop a range of feedstocks that can be used in other tropical countries to produce biodiesel. In Brazil, it has successfully developed a production chain for castor beans as feedstock, and also uses soybeans.