October 11, 2024 [Oil & Gas Journal]- Petroleo Brasileiro SA’s (Petrobras) ongoing investments in its refining business led to improved utilization of its refineries in third-quarter 2024, enabling the operator to achieve record production and processing rates during the 3-month period.

By end-September 2024, Petrobras’s refineries reached an overall utilization rate of 96.8%, representing the highest monthly rate of the year to date, the operator said on Oct. 7.

Improved performance of the refining units during July-September increased the total utilization factor (FUT) of the refineries for third-quarter 2024 to 95.2%, slightly lower from the refining system’s overall FUT of 95.8% during the same period in 2023.

Petrobras said total asphalt production in third-quarter 2024 reached 803,000 tonnes, with record levels of 32,000 tonnes and 51,000 tonnes, respectively, achieved during September at the operator’s 239,000-b/d Duque de Caxias (REDUC) refinery in the Baixada Fluminense area of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state, and the 208,000-b/d Presidente Getúlio Vargas refinery (REPAR) in Araucária, Paraná.

Petrobras’ 434,000-b/d Refinaria de Paulínia (REPLAN) refinery in Paulínia, São Paulo—Brazil’s largest refinery—broke its utilization record in September, processing the highest volume of crude oil since February 2015, Petrobras said.

Overall quarterly gasoline production across the refining system also hit a record high, with combined production reaching 6.38 million cu m between July-September, according to the company.

After attaining its highest monthly rate of 76% in August 2024 for processing of Brazil’s own low-sulfur presalt crudes—representing the percentage of which presalt production accounts for the overall volume of crude types processed by the refineries—Petrobras said its refining system during third-quarter 2024 achieved an overall quarterly record presalt-processing rate of 73%.

The quarterly records result directly from the operator’s continued investments in projects to modernize units, ensure reliability of assets, optimize processes, implement innovative technologies, said William França da Silva, Petrobras’s director of industrial processes and products.

“With the [third-quarter 2024] data, we are demonstrating Petrobras’ commitment to the efficiency and profitability of its operations,” França added.

Presalt processing ambition

Many of Petrobras’s recent investments in its refineries come amid the backdrop of the company’s RefTOP strategy, a multiyear modernization program consisting of initiatives designed to improve efficiency and operational performance of the sites, which specifically includes a goal of achieving 100% processing capacity of presalt crude produced from offshore Brazilian fields by 2025 (OGJ, OCT-NOV 2024, p. 34).

The operator’s processing of presalt crude has steadily increased across 2024, rising to an average of 69% between January-August from 66% during the same 8-month period in 2023, Petrobras said on Sept. 10.

Noting the high yield of medium derivatives available from presalt crudes, França said Petrobras refineries can produce more higher-value jet fuel and diesel from these grades compared to processing the same volume of non-presalt crudes.

High paraffinicity and low-sulfur content of presalt crudes also contributes to higher-quality and lower-sulfur diesel and bunker fuel products, as well as contributes to more sustainable refining activities, the operator said.