Serial failures at a Petrobras refinery have hobbled about a tenth of Brazil’s crude-processing capacity, company and union officials said on Monday, raising safety and efficiency concerns at the financially troubled state-led oil company.
An Aug. 31 power outage and fire, followed by a sulfur tank collapse on Monday, forced a complete shutdown and then slowed the restart of the 242,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) REDUC refinery near Rio de Janeiro owned by Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as Petrobras is formally known, the union representing workers at the plant said.
Petrobras said late Monday it does not expect REDUC, which produces diesel, gasoline, jet fuel and other refined products, to be at full capacity until Sept. 12, nearly two weeks after the power outage. The plant is one of its 15 Brazilian refineries.
However, the company said the problems will not affect the supply of fuels to the Brazilian market.
Leave a Reply