Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational energy corporation controlled by the Brazilian government. Founded in 1953, it had the monopoly over the oil industry in the country until 1997.
Nowadays it remains a significant oil producer and a major distributor of oil products. Petrobras is also a world leader in the development of advanced technology from deep-water oil production and close to the only provider of natural gas sold in Brazil. Its most important assets are petroleum reserves in Brazil.
However, the company is also investing in biofuels, having created in 2008 a specialised business unit for ethanol and biodiesel. Petrobras Biocombustíveis aims to produce biofuels in Brazil and abroad in a “safe, profitable manner and with social and environmental sustainability, thus contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and driving development in the countries where has operations”.
Petrobras claims that biofuels have many “environmental advantages”, such as lowering carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and minimizing particulate pollutants. “The investments we have made in biofuels reassert our commitment to attaining development associated to socio environmental responsibility”, says the company on its website. “Our goal is to create and improve technologies that ensure global leadership in the production of biofuels.”