By 2013, Petrobras will have invested U$ 6 billion in hydrotreatment units, a technology required for the refineries to produce the S-50 and S-10 diesel

Procedures and tr aining to minimize ris ks

Petrobras adopts procedures to minimize the impacts on health and safety, seeking to improve its activities. The company assesses the life cycle of its products and services in their main stages: receipt, storage, loading, distribution, transportation and trading.

Caminhão-tanque com combustível para aeronave, em Montevidéo, no Uruguai
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Petrobras Distribuidora, for example, prepares Safety Information Cards on Chemicals (FISPQ), with data on the products, such as manufacture, promotion, as well as analysis of aspects that may cause damage to the environment and people’s health. The 272 chemicals and fuels traded by the company have information about content, identifying hazards, first aid measures, fire fighting, spills, handling, storage, toxicological information, and so on. The products are regulated by the National Fire Protection Association and CEE – Mandatory Labeling for Hazardous Substances.

In the case of the useful life of lube oils, in 2008 Petrobras Distribuidora collected more than 75,578 m³ used lube oil, corresponding to 34.48% of the sales volume of lube oils. This collected oil was recycled by re-refining in specialized companies and later used to formulate some of its lubes.

In Liquigás, the bottling operations of Liquefied Petroleum Gás (LPG) are systematically controlled to assure safety of the bottles and consequently consumers, mainly in relation to leakage. The thermal retractable seals substituted the plastic seals to improve the guarantee of the bottles in relation to adulteration of the product.

The company adopts the procedures on all its labels required by the regulatory agency of National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP), providing information about origin, application field, purpose, benefits, warnings, precautions, degree of viscosity, performance level, name and registration number in the class agency of the chemist in charge, trade name, as registered in ANP, registration number, packed net quantity, instructions on destination of product and packaging after use and expiry date.

The data are exposed so as not to induce the consumer to mistakenly understand about the origin and characteristics disclosed.

Petrobras did not register cases of non-conformity with voluntary regulations and codes relating to information and labeling or impacts caused by products and services on health and safety during their life cycle.

There were no complaints about violation of privacy and loss of client data. Nor was there any record of significant fines for failure to comply with the rules and regulations of supply and use of products and services.

The contractual and regulatory fines of the Petrobras System in 2008 totaled R$ 434 million. In the States of São Paulo and Paraná, eight public civil actions referring to unfair competition, trust practices or monopoly against Petrobras Distribuidora and other local distributors. Decisions are still to be made for those action.

There were no lawsuits on the subject in Petrobras Holding. However, the company was charged fines relating to untimely tax debits. Eight payments were made with values of over R$ 1 million, totaling around R$ 67.7 million. Some of them are delinquent fines referring to tax collection on Circulation of Goods and Services (VAT) to some Brazilian States, in addition to fines on tax contributions to the central government, such as the Social Integration Program (PIS) and Social Security Financing Contribution (Cofins).

In 2008 Petrobras Distribuidora collected more than 75,578 m³ used lube oil, corresponding to 34.48% of the sales volume

One proceeding has a pending legal decision on suspension of the collection of the differences in government contribution (special participation) referring to oil production, specifically in Marlin Field in the Campos Basin. In 2007, ANP, responsible for the calculation methodology when calculating the special participation, altered the collection values, annulling its earlier resolution, and made another collection from Petrobras with retroactive effect. The claimed value exceeds R$ 3 billion.

Petrobras had two advertising campaigns suspended by the National Council of Advertising Self-Regulation (CONAR). The action referred to commercials that would induce the consumer to exaggeration or deceit. Both campaigns were interrupted in April on the allegation that the commercials disseminated a false idea that the company contributed to the environmental issue in Brazil. Conar queried the truth of the advertisement, which emphasized the social responsibility of Petrobras in its business practices. The objective was to counteract the controversy of the sulfur content in diesel, as a result of a movement started by a group of government and non-government organizations.

As soon as Petrobras was informed by the agency, it appealed against the decision since it is a company that invests and reaffirms at all times its commitment to a socially and environmentally responsible role. The company is renowned by the market and general public as a socially responsible company, and filed a request for suspension and is awaiting the result of the appeal, still in progress.

SULFUR IN DIESEL

The National Environmental Council (Conama) in 1986 set up the Air Pollution Program for Automobile Vehicles (Proconve), which became a successful program with participations of Petrobras and the automotive industry, which since its beginning have been working to its implementation. As an example of projects developed within Proconve by Petrobras, it is worth mentioning the investments made to reduce sulfur content, remove lead from gasoline and the construction of vehicle emission laboratories in the Petrobras Research Center to test its fuels.

Conama periodically sets limits of vehicle emissions through resolutions that must be fulfilled. These pollutants are the result of incomplete burning of fuels, whether diesel, gasoline, ethanol, biodiesel or natural gas. They include carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, aldehydes and particulate.

Petrobras acknowledges the importance of Proconve in improving the quality of the air and in directing the technological development of vehicles engines and fuels. In 1999, and together with representatives of the automotive industry, asked Ibama to establish new limits, since the last standardization was in 1993. So in 2002, the Conama Resolution 315 was established, which defined a new schedule of emission limits to be adopted by 2009.

In the case of diesel, the limit of P-6 emissions was established, equivalent to the European Euro IV, for January 2009. On that occasion, it was known that in Europe these vehicles should use diesel with 50 particles per million (ppm) of sulfur. However, Petrobras could not use the European diesel as a model, since the fuel used in this region has its own characteristics, as a result of climate, logistic, technological factors and others. It was necessary to regulate the specification of the Brazilian diesel S-50, which was only done in October 2007, by the resolution of the National Agency of Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP).

In this period, Petrobras did not stay at a standstill. It bet on a scenario of quality and began investing in technology even before the ANP regulation. By 2013, Petrobras will have invested U$ 6 billion in hydrotreatment units, a technology required for the refineries to produce the S-50 and S-10 diesel. They will soon be in production.

In 2008 Petrobras announced publicly and in court that it would supply the diesel specified by ANP in January 2009 to the new P-6 diesel vehicles. This same year, the National Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (Anfavea) informed the Ministry of the Environment that it would be too short a time to produce the vehicles with P-6 technology by the date set.

Parallel to this, a preventive action was filed in the State of São Paulo against Petrobras/ANP and vehicle assembly lines for the presumed failure to comply with the aforementioned resolution. In the second half of 2008, the Attorney General of the public prosecution service made four requests for an injunction so that Petrobras would supply S-50 diesel to all vehicles. But in the injunction the judge defined that Petrobras should supply the diesel only to the new vehicles with P-6 technology.

Petrobras had publicly expressed that it would comply with the decision. However, new engines were required to fulfill the resolution. Considering that resolution 315 would not be fulfilled, the Ministry of the Environment headed a series of meetings to propose alternative measures to mitigate the damage to the quality of the air. As the outcome of these meetings, it was decided to postpone to 2012 a new stage of emissions, P-7 equivalent to European Euro 5. It was also decided that, since the subject of the Resolution 315 was in court, the proposals studied in the Ministry of the Environment should be part of an agreement in the Federal Department of Justice.

So, even without unfulfilling the aforementioned Resolution, given the injunction granted by the judge, Petrobras participated in the agreement in the Department of Justice, in which participated all institutions involued in the matter. A technical group was created in which representatives of Anfavea, Companhia de Tecnologia de Saneamento Ambiental (Cetesb), linked to the Secretariat of the Environment of the São Paulo government, Ibama, MMA, ANP, Environmental Institute and some independent consultants to calculate the environmental impacts from the non compliance with the Resolution in January 2009 and the environmental benefits of the proposed measures. In the final balance, a benefit will be obtained in the nitrogen oxide emissions of more than eight million tons.

Petrobras agreed to the following decisions:

  • > January 2009 — Substitution of all diesel S-500 for S-50 in the urban bus fleets in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
  • > May 2009 — Substituting all diesel S-500 for S-50 in the metropolitan regions of Fortaleza (Ceará), Recife (Pernambuco) and Belém (Pará).
  • > August 2009 — Substituting all diesel S-500 for S-50 in urban bus fleets in the city of Curitiba (PR).
  • > January 2010 — Substituting all diesel S-500 for S-50 in urban bus fleets in the cities of Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul), Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais) and Salvador (Bahia).
  • > January 2010 — Substituting all diesel S-500 for S-50 in the captive bus fleets S-500 in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo.
  • > January 2011 — Substituting all diesel S-500 for S-50 in the bus fleets in the metropolitan regions of Baixada Santista, Campinas, São José dos Campos and Rio de Janeiro.
  • > January 2013 — Providing a new commercial diesel fuel, with 10 ppm sulfur, from January 2013, for new vehicles.
  • > Undertaking Conpet activities for São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (from January 2009), Curitiba and Porto Alegre (from January 2010) and Belo Horizonte, Salvador and Vitória (from January 2011).
  • > Investment of R$ 1 million for the Cetesb inspection

program for black smoke emission in São Paulo. The supply of diesel with lower sulfur content for captive urban bus fleets in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro was decided to begin on January 1, 2009. In the other regions of the country, the diesel S-50 will be supplied according to that schedule. This involves an investment by 2013 of R$ 8.5 billion in 13 hydrotreatment units (HDTs).