From toothbrushes to computers, the thermoplastic resins produced by Braskem can be found in several different daily life situations. The company responsible for more than half the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and PVC in Brazil is the arm of the Odebrecht Organization in the Chemical and Petrochemical sector.

• Creation of Braskem
• The Company Today
• Green Polyethylene

Creation of Braskem

Braskem was founded in 2002, although the Organization’s investments in the segment began back in 1979. During that year, Odebrecht acquired stake in Companhia Petroquímica Camaçari (CPC), which belongs to the Camaçari Petrochemical Pole in Bahia.

The strategy that Odebrecht adopted to build a leading Brazilian petrochemical company in the sector in Latin America involved a series of other acquisitions. Many were motivated by Brazil’s National Privatization Program, under which the Federal Government sold the stake of companies from the area.

In 2001, the partnership established with the Mariani Group allowed the company to purchase shareholder control of Companhia Petroquímica do Nordeste (Copene), the raw material center of the Camaçari Petrochemical Pole. One year later, the merger of the Organization's assets in the sector resulted in the creation of Braskem, soon to become Latin America’s largest petrochemical company.

The Company today

With the acquisition of Quattor through an Investment Agreement signed between Odebrecht, Petrobras, Braskem and UNIPAR in January 2010, Braskem became the largest petrochemical company in the Americas in terms of thermoplastic resin (polyethylene, polypropylene and PVC) production capacity. With the integration between first and second petrochemical generation, its 26 plants, located in five states (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia and Alagoas), have the capacity to process 5.5 million tons of resin per year.

In February 2010, Braskem acquired Sunoco Chemicals Inc., the polypropylene (PP) asset division in the United States with the capacity to produce 950,000 tons of raw materials per year. With head office located in Pennsylvania, the company has three industrial units located in La Porte (Texas), Marcus Hook (Pennsylvania) and Neal (West Virginia), responsible for 13% of the installed capacity for PP production in the United States.

As part of their internationalization process, Braskem and Idesa – one of Mexico’s main petrochemical groups – joined forces with Pemex – a state-owned Mexican oil and gas company – by signing investment and ethane supply contracts for the installation of an integrated petrochemical project in that country, which will involve investments of US$ 2.5 billion. The project involves the production of one million tons of ethylene and polyethylene per year in three polymer plants, with the start of operations set for 2015.

Braskem, which is controlled by Odebrecht, has Petrobras as its main partner and shares listed on the São Paulo, New York and Madrid stock exchanges. With a strategic presence in the international market, the company supplies resins and other items to over 60 countries on five continents.

Green Polyethylene

Focused on sustainability, Braskem developed the world’s first polymer made from a 100% renewable source: sugarcane. The item is one of more than 200 patents registered by the company.

The first product manufactured with the green polymer was the board game Banco Imobiliário Sustentável (“Sustainable Monopoly”), sold by the brand Estrela. Many companies gained an awareness of the importance of including the material in the composition of their products and signed long-term commercial agreements with Braskem.

Based on the increased demand, the petrochemical company decided to invest in a production unit in Triunfo, Rio Grande do Sul, specialized in green polymers. Its capacity will be 200,000 tons per year, with the launch set for 2011. This will make Braskem the first company in the world to produce the item on an industrial scale.

And its pioneering actions do not stop there. The brand has also been involved in other eco-sustainable initiatives, including:

• The joining of the São Paulo Stock Exchange Corporate Sustainability Index;
• Signing of the United Nations Environment Program International Declaration on Cleaner Production.