Brazilian iron ore mining giant Vale and oil & gas major Petrobras have announced the signing of a Strategic Alliance Agreement to supply products with a focus on competitiveness and advancing Vale’s decarbonisation agenda. This agreement, which reflects the natural evolution of the protocol of intentions signed by the companies in September 2023, establishes conditions for testing and potentially marketing three strategic products: co-processed diesel with renewable content, natural gas and bunker with 24% renewable content. The products included in the agreement were defined on the basis of joint studies between the companies.
“We are very happy to announce this broad partnership with Petrobras, which brings benefits to both companies and creates value for Brazil,” says Vale’s CEO, Gustavo Pimenta. “The agreement reinforces Vale’s commitment to promoting the decarbonisation of its operations and offering solutions to reduce its customers’ emissions, thus leveraging Brazil’s competitive edge in renewable fuels.”
“We are developing ever greener fuels and honouring our commitment to decarbonise our activities. The partnership with Vale is yet another realisation of Petrobras’ goal of improving production capacity and the company’s logistics structure to deliver to the market greener products such as Diesel R and reinforce our decarbonisation strategy,” says Petrobras President Magda Chambriard.
Diesel R5 is an S10 diesel with 5% HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) in its composition. It is produced by co-processing oil derivatives with raw materials of plant origin, resulting in a product with identical technical specifications to mineral diesel and 60% less carbon intensity in the renewable portion.
The agreement provides for collaboration on more competitive models for the supply of natural gas, an essential input for the production of pellets and also iron ore briquettes – a product developed by Vale that contributes to promoting the decarbonisation of the steel industry.
And finally, the alliance provides for Petrobras to sell a very low-sulphur bunker blend with 24% biodiesel for testing on an iron ore transport vessel working for Vale.
The first action under the agreement has already begun with the supply of diesel with renewable content (Diesel R5) by Petrobras. The product began to be supplied to Vale in the second week of October to carry out industrial-scale tests on the Vitória-Minas Railroad and at the Fábrica Nova mine, in the Mariana Complex (Minas Gerais, Brazil), on a Caterpillar 789C mining truck.
Petrobras is a pioneer in the development of diesel with renewable content. It is a product obtained by co-processing in Petrobras refineries and does not require any alterations to vehicles or storage structures in order to be used. The product also requires a mixture of biodiesel ester, according to the percentage defined by current regulations.
