The state of Rio de Janeiro will be the target of US$ 8.3 billion investments for the construction of the Petrochemical Complex, in Itaboraí, a municipality 40 minutes away from the city of Rio de Janeiro. The ceremony held to celebrate the official start-up of the works was held on Monday, March 31 and attended by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Rio de Janeiro state governor Sergio Cabral. Such investments further increase the role the State of Rio de Janeiro plays in the national economy and adds further value Rio’s bid for the Olympic Games 2016.

The Petrochemical Complex will be built over a 45 million square-meter area. More than two thousand direct jobs will be generated by the works in their initial stage and another 200 thousand job opportunities will be created along the five years Petrochemical Complex construction will take till completion. Thermoplastic resins and fuels will be produced there and this will encourage the establishment of consumption goods manufacturing plants once petrochemical products are the basic raw materials required to produce such goods. This project also aims at boosting the domestic production of petrochemical products by processing approximately 150 thousand barrels/day of heavy oil. Complex full structure start-up is scheduled for 2012.

The social component of this venture can already be felt in some of Petrobras actions. The state company is responsible for the project and has designed a local labor qualification program both for venture construction and for its operational stage. Petrobras is planning to qualify 30 thousand people in partnership with local city halls.

The environmental issues will also be carefully handled once there will be no waste dumping in the Guanabara Bay. The venture will be provided with US$ 200 million air pollution control equipment. Additionally, 6 million trees will be planted at river springs.