Brazil Petrobras, Vale mull over palm oil, biodiesel production partnership

Aug 15, 2012 - Petrobras Biocombustivel, the biodiesel subsidiary of Brazil's oil and gas giant Petrobras (SAO:PETR3), and miner Vale (SAO:VALE3) are studying the option of setting up a palm oil and biodiesel production partnership, Petrobras said yesterday in a press release.
The CEO of Petrobras Biocombustivel, Miguel Rossetto, visited Vale's palm oil extraction plant in the Moju municipality of northern Para state to discuss with Vale's global energy director, Joao Coral, the implementation of joint projects in the area.
According to Petrobras, the Para plant envisages the production of B20 blend -- or 20% of biodiesel made from palm oil mixed with 80% of conventional diesel -- to meet the company's own demand in Brazil as of 2015. Currently, Vale has a capacity to extract 25 tonnes of palm oil per hour. The miner also plans to install another oil extraction plant and a biodiesel plant in the state.
Petrobras Biocombustivel, in turn, is as well building a biodiesel plant in Para. The project will have the capacity to produce 230 million litres (60.7m gallons) of biodiesel per year and will aim to meet the demand of Brazil's northern region.
In April this year, Petrobras and Vale signed a letter of intent for development of joint undertakings in various areas including potash, fertilisers, oil and gas, biodiesel and logistics.

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