Friday, September 30, 2005
PETROBRAS (BOVESPA: PETR3 - PETR4) WAS FOUNDED IN OCTOBER OF 1953 TO OPERATE IN THE BRAZILIAN OIL SECTOR. The company has become the country's leader in the distribution of oil products and is internationally acknowledged as one of the largest major oil companies in the world today, leading the sector in the implementation of the most advanced deep-water technology for oil production.
PETROBRAS operates in a large number countries around the world. CENPES *, the PETROBRAS research center, uses and develops advanced technologies and is internationally renowned for its expertise. CENPES Basic Engineering division play a fundamental role inside all areas in PETROBRAS making Brazil one of the leading countries in oil industry technology.
The Cenpes consolidated itself as the largest Research Center in Latin America, the winner of the top prize in the world oil sector, the Offshore Technology Conference, in recognition of its remarkable contribution to the advance of deepwater production technology. Petrobras now allocates 1% of its gross income to the Center, and, thus, is among the companies that invest the most in research and development in the world.
* Petrobras Research and Development Center coordinates all technology development needed by Petrobras. Its main investigation lines include exploration (very deep waters) and production, industrial research, basic engineering and analytical chemistry. Cenpes will present the Ocean laboratory, a deep water simulation tank, together with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and a chemical process for producing DME (dimethylether) directly from the synthesis gas, together with the National Institute ofTechnology.
With more than 1,500 employees over an area of 122,000 square meters, the Cenpes has 30 pilot units and 137 laboratories that attend the Company's agencies. The technologies the Cenpes has developed have resulted in 950 applications for international patents and 500 for Brazilian patents, in addition to a considerable number of registered trademarks.
