Petrobras, Steelmaker Gerdau Eye Decarbonization Cooperation

Brazil’s state-owned energy company Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Gerdau S/A to explore commercial opportunities and potential partnerships aligned with their diversification and decarbonization strategies.
"In a strategic move to face the environmental challenges of the 21st century, Petrobras and Gerdau have announced an agreement to explore and develop sustainable solutions within the scope of low-carbon businesses”, Maurício Tolmasquim, Petrobras' Director of Energy Transition and Sustainability, said. “This partnership involves evaluating potential business models for low-carbon fuels, hydrogen and its products, CCS (capture, transportation, and storage of CO2), R&D projects relating to the integrity of materials in a maritime environment, and steel production via ‘direct reduction’ using natural gas”.
Petrobras noted that Gerdau not only has a prominent position as the country’s leading steel producer but is also a major scrap metal recycler in Latin America. Its sustainable production matrix based on scrap recycling and the use of bioreducers (charcoal) has put the company among those with the lowest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the global steel industry, Petrobras said.
Flávia Souza, Gerdau's Global Director of Energy and Procurement, said the steel producer continues to make progress in its commitment to reducing further its GHG emissions intensity, which currently stands at 0.91 tCO2e per ton of steel.
“Partnerships like this contribute to developing technologies and initiatives aimed at a low-carbon economy, creating avenues of opportunity for the decarbonization of the steel industry", said Flávia.
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