Petrobras announced that its wholly subsidiary Comperj Participações S.A. (Comperj Participações) and SMU Energia e Serviços de Utilidades Ltda (SMU) executed an agreement to form a new company, Companhia de Desenvolvimento de Plantas de Utilidades – CDPU, in view to analyze the implementation of the Utilities Plant project of Comperj.

Comperj Participações will hold 20% of CDPU interest and SMU the other 80%. SMU is a Brazilian company controlled by Sembcorp Utilities PTE Ltd (Singapore), through its wholly subsidiary Sembcorp Utilities (BVI) Pte Ltd; Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (Japan); and Utilitas Participações S.A. (Brazil).

The Utilities Plant project is part of the Petrochemical Complex of Rio de Janeiro (Comperj) and consists of units of electric energy supply, vapor supply, water and industrial effluents treatment and hydrogen supply. The Comperj is located in the state of Rio de Janeiro and the project also includes the construction of a refinery, first and second generation petrochemical units, and is expected to start up in the first semester of 2013.

In addition to the development of the Utilities Plant project, Comperj Participações also executed a bid process for the construction of the coke unit. The winner was the consortium formed by Techint and Andrade Gutierrez and the final amount of the contract was R$ 1,89 billion.