Conpet has the technical, financial and administrative support of Petrobras to encourage efficient use of energy sources

SERVICES AND PRODUCTS ADOPT HSE GUIDELINES

Principle 8 Businesses should undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility

Besides continually seeking to maximize the safety of its productive processes and the control and reduction of their potential impacts on the environment and health of employees, suppliers and communities, Petrobras also takes actions to improve HSE performance of its products and services.

Bomba Flex de posto da Petrobras Distribuidora, para abastecer automóvel bicombustível
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The standard ISO 14001 certifications, for example, require monitoring and minimization of the risks associated with products.

In the company, information sheets on the safety of chemical products (FISPQ) are prepared and constantly updated, in three languages (Portuguese, English and Spanish). Each product has a specific sheet, also disclosed by the Petrobras Customer Channel. The sheets contain information such as product composition, physical and chemical properties, health and environment hazards, care in handling, and actions to be adopted in the case of accidents.

The package of sold products also has instructions about care in handling and use of the products, plus recommendations regarding their final destination.

The company’s business plan provides for compliance of product quality with international specifications as one of the main driving forces in the new refineries. In the operating units, projects are being developed focusing on the quality of diesel and gasoline.

Designed to generate energy in the industrial segment, Add Cleaner, for example, is a fuel oil additive, which provides a reduction of up to 91% in the emission of particulate material generated in the burning. This result, consolidated during the use of the product by industrial clients, exceeded the performance in tests run in the Technological Research Institute of São Paulo State (IPT), which indicated a reduction of 68% compared to an ordinary fuel oil. Besides the environmental benefits, the reduction in the formation of deposits and incrustations on the equipment is also noted.

Petrobras Distribuidora did a study on the life cycle of an ecological asphalt, produced by adding recycled rubber from unusable tires, compared with the environmental performance of conventional asphalt.

Some additional stages of the life cycle of products are covered by projects, such as Keeping an Eye on Fuel, a program for certifying the quality of the products sold in the Petrobras service stations, and for recycling used lubricants, packaging, asphalt and returnable LPG recipients (cylinders). In compliance with Brazilian legislation, Petrobras Distribuidora collected 75,578 m3 of used lube oil, corresponding to 34.48% of the total volume of lubes sold.

Another initiative of the subsidiary is the Responsible Transportation Program, which seeks to improve quality in its transportation services. The program includes periodic meetings with the transportation companies and assessments about the drivers’ health conditions.

Transpetro studies the environmental aspects and impacts, potential risks for occupational health and safety for its terminals, stretches of pipeline and fleet of ships. It has also undertaken specific studies for interstate pipelines and operational points. It also includes management of quality of atmospheric emissions on the fleet of its own vehicles, contracted vehicles and stationary diesel engines.

The potential impacts from the company’s transportation activities are associated with occurrences involving ships and tankers, or bursting of pipelines, which can cause spills of liquids or gases and of solids. Possible consequences are contamination of the soil, sources and atmosphere, besides the direct impact on living creatures.

At Petrobras Holding strict criteria are applied for safety in transporting people, related to both the specification and conservation of the vehicles and the conduct of the drivers.

ENCOURAGING CONSCIOUS CONSUMPTION

Linked to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the National Program of the Rational Use of Oil and Natural Gas Byproducts (Conpet) has the technical, financial and administrative support of Petrobras. The objective is to encourage efficient use of energy sources energy in different sectors, mainly in transportation.

Some of the projects included in the program are Economizar (Saving), Transportar (Transporting) and Conpet at School. Concerned with the highway transportation sector (freight and passengers), the Saving Program does assessments on diesel-fueled vehicles in order to reduce fuel consumption and black smoke, and the consequent reduction of other gases from the combustion. It is estimated that a saving of diesel of approximately 5% occurs in the fleets that join the program. Transportar provides specialized technical support to fleets of tankers that are fueled in the Petrobras refineries, focusing on environmental aspects, reduction of fuel consumption and safety.

Conpet at School shows the importance of the rational use of energy to students of the elementary school and technical colleges in the public and private school systems. The actions of the project focus on the teachers and lecturers, who act as multipliers of the information. By 2008, there were 287 workshops in 557 counties for 416,360 students.

Other highlights of Conpet are: the gas bus; the National Award of Conservation and Rational Use of Energy, which encourages the efficient use of energy among goods and service providers in Brazil; the Brazilian Labeling Program, which informs consumers about the energy efficiency of products; and the Conpet Seal of Energy Efficiency, for household gas equipment.

In November, the Brazilian Labeling Program was launched to disclose information about the performance of automobiles relating to fuel consumption in metropolitan areas and on interstate highways. The initiative is a partnership with the National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (Inmetro), which coordinates the program. From April 2009 onwards, the first vehicles will circulate with the National Energy Conservation Label, which will facilitate the choice between more economical and efficient models.

The Conpet website presents the robot Ed, a mechanism of artificial intelligence that interacts with the user to answer queries about how to conserve energy and other natural resources.