Vitor Abdala
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Rio - Petrobras informs that it hired the French firm, Axens (of the French Petroleum Institute group), to reduce the sulphur content of its gasoline and thus improve the quality of the fuel. The contract, which was signed today, foresees the construction of ten sulphur reduction units in eight Brazilian refineries, by 2009.

The total capacity of the project will enable 50 million liters of gasoline to be processed daily. Fuel is currently permitted to contain a sulphur content of one thousand parts per million. When the units are fully operational, it will be possible to attain contents of fewer than 50 parts per million. Moreover, the fuel improvement will lower the volume of pollutent gases released by cars into the atmosphere.

Translation: David Silberstein