Brazil’s Vibra Energia nearing completion of lubricant plant expansion

Brazil’s Vibra Energia plans to complete the modernization and expansion of its lubricant plant in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro state, by the end of this year. 

According to the company, the plant will be the largest in Latin America and one of the five largest in the world. 

The investment will contribute to Vibra’s aim of increasing exports. 

"It's a plant that will give us a very important competitive advantage in the lubricants segment. The quality of the product will be superior and the cost lower than any other plant in Latin America," the company's CEO, Ernesto Pousada, told an investor conference call on Wednesday. 

The executive stressed that the lubricants market is one of Vibra's main growth platforms for the future. 

"We’ll see growth in both retail and B2B [business to business]," said Pousada. 

In the second quarter of 2024, Vibra's lubricant sales totaled 72,000l, up 14% on the previous three months and a 5.5% year-on-year increase. 

The company recorded a net profit of 867mn reais (US$154mn) in the period, compared to 133mn reais in the same three months of last year. 

Adjusted Ebitda was 1.55bn reais, up 70.3% year-on-year.

Formerly called BR Distribuidora, Vibra is Brazil's largest liquid fuel distributor, having a 22.4% market share, according to the country’s watchdog ANP. 

The company also operates in the electricity generation segment through Comerc. 

In the second quarter of the year, Comerc inaugurated the Várzea plant in Minas Gerais, which adds 118MWp to the company's solar generation capacity, thus ending its investment cycle in centralized generation. 

Comerc now has 2,118MWp of total generation, of which 1,561MWp is in centralized solar generation, 280MW in wind and 284MW in solar distributed generation (DG). 

Investments are also underway that will add a further 166MWp in DG, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.