BSBIOS and Petrobras inaugurated the Plant of biodiesel in Paraná

BSBIOS and Petrobras Biofuel inaugurated on Friday (14/5/2010), at 11:00am, the BSBIOS plant of biodiesel Marialva, located in the North of Paraná, in which each one of the companies owns 50% participation. The ceremony marks the beginning of the operation of the unit which has the capacity to produce 127 million liters of biodiesel per year. The total investment in this project was R$ 100 million. The ceremony count on the presence of the Governor of the state, Orlando Pessuti, the president of Petrobras Biofuel, Miguel Rossetto, the president of the Council, Renan Lima, and the directors of the subsidiary. With this unit, Petrobras Biofuel begins to run in the South of the country, what allows a more efficient logistic when servicing the markets in the South and São Paulo. Furthermore, it enlarges its biodiesel production capacity to 326 million liters/year - summing up its three units in operation in Candeias (BA), Quixadá (CE) and Montes Claros (MG) - to 389 million liters/year, considering 50% the production of Marialva.

The undertaking generates 120 direct employments in the industrial area. During the works, 300 workers particepated in the construction. The operation in Paraná is strategic, since the state is the third greater consumer of the country and it is close to the first consumer that is the State of São Paulo, besides being the second greater producer of vegetable oil crops in Brazil, with a significant presence of familiar farm. With the beginning of the plant activities, the state is on the way to become self-sufficient in biodiesel, which currently comes from other regions.

For the supply of raw material for the production of biodiesel, nearly seven thousand familiar farmers of the region will be involved. The company encourages the production and the diversification of vegetable oil crops, mainly canola and soybean. And, for this purpose, it keeps partnership with familiar farmers, cooperatives and research and agricultural technical assistance institutions aiming at making the diversification and the production of raw material viable. With this, in a nearly future, the region and the state will have their economic profile changed, thus with good vegetable oil crops offerings it will be possible to aggregate income to the producers through the use of grains in the production of biodiesel.