Petrobras ships first naphtha to Braskem from Abreu e Lima refinery

Petrobras has now carried out the first petrochemical naphtha loading operation at its Abreu e Lima refinery (also known as RNEST), initiating the sales program for the product, the Brazilian company announced Thursday.

The first batch of petrochemical naphtha will be delivered to customer Braskem, a petrochemicals group with operations across Brazil. 

Of the total 56,650 m3 produced so far at RNEST, 18,063 m3 of the product was dispatched in this first load, according to company officials.

The ship FSL Singapore, moored at the Port of Suape, in Pernambuco, has been loaded with this volume, and it will now sail to São Sebastião, in São Paulo, where the sale of the petrochemical naphtha to Braskem will be completed.

The petrochemical naphtha is produced in RNEST’s atmospheric distillation facility, pumped into storage tanks within the refinery, certified in line with the standards of the National Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP), and then pumped on board the respective ship, with logistics support from Transpetro.

Petrochemical naphtha is used to make intermediate products such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene and xylene in the Brazilian states of Bahia, São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. 

These products are then transformed by Braskem itself, and also its customers, into plastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and PET, as well as synthetic rubber, nylon yarns and various other products used in domestic industries.