Petrobras breaks pre-salt refining record in the 1st quarter of 2022

Petrobras recorded a quarterly pre-salt refining record during the first three months of 2022. Altogether, from January to March this year, 65% of the oil processing at the state-owned refineries came from the layer, in data announced by the company this Tuesday thursday (17). The volume represents more than double that recorded in 2016, when the proportion was 27%.

In February this year, the company also recorded an unprecedented monthly performance. In the month, 66% of the amount of oil processed came from the pre-salt layer.

Executive manager of refining at Petrobras, Elza Kallas draws attention to the processing capacity of oils that come from the pre-salt layer. According to the engineer, this potential has expanded thanks to resources invested by the company in the modernization of the refining park.

“These investments bring greater operational and logistical flexibility to Petrobras and allow the company to make better use of these oils, including in the domestic market”, says the manager.

Petrobras also highlights that the oil found in the pre-salt has a low sulfur content, which makes it less polluting. With a lower concentration of the element, the final product is purer. The result of this are derivatives with better quality, such as Diesel S-10 and bunker, marine fuel.

The scenario, according to the company, allows the state-owned company to contribute more to reducing carbon emissions. In addition, this type of oil has a high yield of medium derivatives, such as aviation kerosene (QAv) and diesel, products with higher added value. Thus, it is possible to produce more of these fuels with less oil.