Nielmar de Oliveira
Reporter Agência Brasil

Rio - Yesterday Petrobras and Nippon Alcohol Hanbai signed a contract creating the Brazil-Japan Ethanol company which will operate in Japan with the objective of importing and commercializing some 20 million liters of sugarcane-based ethanol made in Brazil by the year 2008.

Petrobras says it will use the association with Nippon to seek solutions to technical problems in introducing ethanol in Japan, "one of the world's biggest and most complex markets." Petrobras sees the endeavor as part of its international expansion efforts and believes its presence in Japan will open the door to other markets.

Translation: Allen Bennett