Rio de Janeiro – Brazilian oil giant Petrobras and the government of Mato Grosso do Sul state discussed, on Tuesday (27), the schedule for installation of a fertilizer factory in Três Lagoas, with construction works scheduled to begin in 2011.
The unit, to produce ammonia and urea as from 2014, is one of the four new Petrobras investments in the area of fertilizers, to increase Brazilian production and reduce dependence on imports. The other units will be established in Uberaba, Linhares and Laranjeiras, each in a different state in Brazil.
At the meeting, which took place at the Petrobras offices, in the centre of Rio de Janeiro, it was defined that the Três Lagoas City Hall would provide the title deeds for the piece of land where the factory should be built and the state government should work on licensing for the works to begin as scheduled, allowing for the works to begin in 2011.
The Três Lagoas unit will be supplied with natural gas transported by the Bolivia-Brazil Gas Pipeline (Gasbol) and should have a capacity for production of 1.21 million tonnes of urea and 81,000 tonnes of ammonia each year.
According to figures disclosed by Petrobras, in 2009, Brazil produced 1.118 million tonnes of urea (626,000 tonnes at Petrobras units) and imported 2.21 million tonnes to supply the domestic demand. The offer of ammonia in 2009, in turn, was 185,000 tonnes for a demand of 505,000 tonnes.
According to Petrobras forecasts, in 2015, when all four new fertilizer units are expected to be in operation, the country should be producing 3.659 million tonnes of urea while demand should reach 4.076 million tonnes. The offer of ammonia should reach 782,000 tonnes/year – which should make the country self-sufficient in production of the input.
*Translated by Mark Ament
