By Brasil Stock Guide – Petrobras plans to invest 6 billion reais, or about $1.1 billion, to expand processing capacity at its Replan refinery in Paulínia by 5%, equivalent to roughly 25,000 barrels a day, according to Daniel Violatti, the company’s refining manager.
The investment was announced at a press briefing ahead of a scheduled visit by Petrobras Chief Executive Officer Magda Chambriard to the refinery on Monday, May 18. Petrobras, formally Petróleo Brasileiro SA, trades under PETR4 and PETR3 in São Paulo and PBR and PBR.A in New York.
The Replan refinery is the largest of Petrobras’ 10 refineries. The planned expansion is part of the company’s 2026-2030 business plan and comes as Petrobras seeks to increase refining capacity while advancing projects tied to the energy transition.
“We have already started the works, and next year the maintenance shutdown of the unit, the distillation unit, is scheduled for implementation. So it is planned for the first half of 2027, and we should complete this maintenance shutdown with the project,” Violatti said.
Petrobras also plans projects at Replan linked to renewable fuels, including an Alcohol-to-Jet, or AtJ, unit designed to produce 100% renewable sustainable aviation fuel, known as SAF, from ethanol.
“By December 2026, we will have the first SAF production at Replan through co-processing oil,” Violatti said.
For the AtJ project, the company has already signed with a licensor and is developing the basic engineering phase, he said.
“In the case of AtJ, today we have already signed with the licensor, we are developing the basic project and we have a perspective of bidding next year to start the works,” Violatti added.
Replan will also host Petrobras’ largest photovoltaic solar power unit among its refineries. The 20-megawatt project requires an investment of 100 million reais, has already been tendered and is expected to start operations by the end of the year.
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