Petroquímica Paulínia S.A. (PPSA), a joint venture created between Braskem and Petrobrás through its Petroquisa subsidiary, laid the cornerstone today for a polypropylene industrial unit in the township of Paulínia, SP, with the presence of President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Investments are projected at around US$ 300 million, and the project should start operations in the first quarter of 2008.
 
Braskem participates with 60% of Petroquímica Paulínia’s shareholder capital and Petroquisa with 40%. "The public and private sectors joined together to attend to the demand in consumption. That is very important for our country’s development," said President Lula during his speech at the laying of the cornerstone. 
 
Braskem president, José Carlos Grubisich, believes this initiative reinforces the competitiveness of the country’s entire petrochemical and plastics chain. "It is of utmost importance for Braskem since it consolidates our leadership in polypropylene and reinforces the strategic alliance with Petrobrás, our main raw material supplier and an important shareholder through Petroquisa," saidz José Carlos Grubisich, Braskem president.
 
The project is aligned with Petrobrás’ strategic planning, which foresees active participation to make petrochemical projects in partnership with private enterprise feasible, and it is compatible with the objectives of the Growth Acceleration Plan - (GAP). "The country needs massive investments to attend to the growing demand for petrochemical products and the corporate model adopted in this project is an example to be followed for the sector’s development in Brazil," said José Lima de Andrade Neto, Petroquisa president.
 
Production
The new factory will have the capacity to produce 350 thousand tons of polypropylene per year, the thermoplastic resin with the highest consumption growth rate. The raw material (propylene) will be supplied by the Petrobrás refineries located in São José dos Campos (Revap) and Paulínia (Replan) that are undergoing modernization processes with investments of US$ 365 million to guarantee the raw material for the new unit. Besides that, the works at the two refineries are destined to increase the processing of domestic oil and further improve fuel quality.
 
"The Petroquímica Paulínia project has differentiated competitiveness through the combination of world-class scale, the most modern production technology available on the market, contributed by Braskem, and access to Petrobrás’ raw material," says Guilherme Guaragna, PPSA director superintendent.
 
Besides that, the township of Paulínia is located a little more than 100 kilometers from the state capital, in the heart of the main domestic consumption market, served by excellent quality transportation infrastructure that permits the flow of production in privileged conditions.