Mubadala-owned Athelen plans to increase diesel production capacity at its Brazilian refinery Mataripe by 10% in June as part of a 736 million reais ($143 million) investment plan this year, Chief Operating Officer Celso Ferreira told Reuters.
Mataripe, Brazil’s second-largest refinery and accounting for about 14% of the country’s production capacity, plans to increase diesel production from 12,400 cubic meters per day to 13,700 cubic meters per day.
The investment comes as Brazil’s diesel imports increase due to rising demand for fuel. Last year, the country imported about 29% of its diesel consumption, according to data from consulting firm StoneX.
Athelen plans to invest R$4 billion in the sector by 2030, with a focus on maintenance, safety, energy efficiency and decarbonization, Ferreira said in an interview on Tuesday.
After the expansion, the refinery’s diesel production capacity will increase by about 25% since it was acquired from state oil company Petrobras in 2021.
Athelen is owned by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company, whose Brazilian renewable energy company Athelen Renewables is also planning to build an adjacent biofuel refinery. About 90% of the initial sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced there has already been contracted, the company said.
The facility has a planned production capacity of 1 billion liters of biofuels per year and is expected to be operational by 2028. (1 dollar = 5.1502 reais)
(Reporting by Marta Nogueira; Writing by Fabio Teixeira; Editing by Susan Fenton)
