Petrobras’ board approved a final investment decision on June 19 for the RPBC Biorefining project, committing approximately US$1.2 billion to a dedicated bio-jet fuel and renewable diesel plant at the Presidente Bernardes Refinery in Cubatão, São Paulo. The facility is designed for up to 15,000 barrels per day of renewable fuel output, with construction expected to begin by the end of 2026 and startup scheduled for 2030.
The FID lands ten days after AIIB closed its US$58 million loan to Acelen Renewables for the Bahia HEFA biorefinery, making RPBC the second large-scale Brazilian bio-jet project to clear a capital gate inside June 2026. It is Petrobras’ first publicly disclosed FID on a dedicated bio-jet and renewable diesel build, advancing the dedicated-unit line of the 2026-2030 Business Plan beyond the co-processing footprint that has historically dominated the company’s renewable output.
RPBC is the first Petrobras FID on a dedicated bio-jet unit, signaling that BioQAV is now being capitalized as a standalone build rather than only as a co-processing addition.
In the company’s own language from the June 19 Form 6-K filing, the project, considering financing conditions, has been incorporated into the Base Implementation Portfolio of the 2026-2030 Business Plan, and Petrobras will now move into the final phase of contracting and execution of agreements. The filing does not specify EPC award status, licensor selection, or feedstock supply contracts.
The capacity is sized against Brazil’s mandate runway, not a blend curve. Law 14.993/2024, the Future Fuel Law (Combustível do Futuro), obliges the aviation fuel sector to deliver a minimum lifecycle GHG-emissions reduction starting at 1% in 2027-2028, then rising by one percentage point per year to 10% by 2037, with annual percentages set by CNPE. The implementing decree, pending as of late June 2026, will fix whether the duty sits with suppliers or with airline operators. Either way the obligation is a carbon-intensity duty, not a volumetric SAF blend, and the physical bio-jet volume the mandate pulls in will depend on the GHG profile of the qualifying fuel once the decree is published. The same law sets a parallel biodiesel blend trajectory in road diesel and a separate green-diesel (HVO) promotion mechanism.
A 15,000 bpd dedicated unit gives Petrobras a domestic long position for BioQAV well before the carbon-intensity obligation tightens, plus an export-grade SAF stream that can serve ReFuelEU compliance volumes in Europe and CORSIA-eligible fuel demand from international operators offsetting under the mandatory phase. On the producer-monetization side, the unit’s output can stack §45Z and the California, Washington and Oregon LCFS programs, alongside voluntary book-and-claim sales in the U.S.
What the FID notice does not disclose is the feedstock route, the product split between bio-jet and renewable diesel, the technology licensor, or the financing structure. Watch the contracting announcements through Q3 and Q4 for feedstock supply agreements and any BNDES participation in the capital stack.
Source: Petrobras Form 6-K (SEC EDGAR)
