Silva Diniz
Reporter - Agência Brasil

São Luís (MA) - Maranhão will produce 60 thousand liters daily of diesel oil extracted from castor beans in a refinery that will be installed in São Luís by the end of this year. Governor José Reinaldo Tavares and the executive director of the Brasil Ecodiesel company, Nelson Côrtes da Silveira, signed a document yesterday (21) for the construction of the refinery, which should commence oil extraction in July. Daily production is expected to reach 90 thousand liters in order to meet foreign demand. The initial investment comes to US$ 31 million (R$ 80 million).

In its initial phase, the project will benefit 2,500 families, and the goal is to involve approximately 12 thousand by 2008. The project also expects to create at least 300 direct jobs and 1 thousand indirect ones. According to Brasil Ecodiesel, the refinery should begin operations in December.

At present Brazil consumes 36 billion liters of diesel oil per year. Production of vegetable oils, used in food preparation, amounts to 3.5 billion liters.

Translation: David Silberstein