Empresas Petróleo Ipiranga is a Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian conglomerate that are in the field of refining

Refining

Refining is the process of purification of a substance or a form. The term is usually used of a natural resource that is almost in a usable form, but which is more useful in its pure form. For instance, most types of natural petroleum will burn straight from the ground, but it will burn poorly...

 and distribution

Distribution (business)

Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. An organization or set of organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user.The other three parts of the marketing mix are product, pricing,...

 of oil.

It also has business in petrochemical

Petrochemical

Petrochemicals are chemical products derived from petroleum. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as corn or sugar cane....

 and chemical industries.

Ipiranga also started to act in the upstream activity, exploring and developing production of oil and natural gas in Bahia

Bahia

Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...

, Brazil, in a joint venture

Joint venture

A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...

 with Petrobras

Petrobras

Petróleo Brasileiro or Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest company in Latin America by market capitalization and revenue, and the largest company headquartered in the Southern Hemisphere by market...

 and El Paso Corporation.
The company started its activities in 1933, in Uruguaiana

Uruguaiana

Uruguaiana is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is located on the left-hand shore of the Uruguay River that forms the border with Argentina. Opposite Uruguaiana, and joined to it by a road/railway bridge, lies the Argentine city of Paso de los Libres, Corrientes...

, RS

Rio Grande do Sul

Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in Brazil, and the state with the fifth highest Human Development Index in the country. In this state is located the southernmost city in the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay. In the region of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, the largest wine...

 under the name of Destilaria Rio Grandense de Petróleo S/A.

Overview

The company distributes petrochemicals and chemicals for the Central and South American markets. The oil company (which has a 23% share of the Brazilian fuel distribution market) operates a network of 3,350 Ipiranga branded gas stations. Its chemical products include polymers, process oils, resins, and solvents used by the adhesive, paint, and rubber industries. Gasoline and lubricant sales and profits have declined because of price gaps, fuel adulteration, and tax frauds. The group contracted Chase Manhattan bank to implement a restructuring plan, which could include the sale of some of its operations.
On March 19, 2007, it was announced that Ipiranga would be purchased by a consortium formed by Petrobras

Petrobras

Petróleo Brasileiro or Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest company in Latin America by market capitalization and revenue, and the largest company headquartered in the Southern Hemisphere by market...

, Braskem

Braskem

Braskem is a Brazilian petrochemical company headquartered in São Paulo. The company is the largest petrochemical in the Americas by production capacity and the fifth largest in the world...

 and Grupo Ultra

Ultrapar

Ultrapar is a Brazilian group, with operations in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, USA and Venezuela, and differentiated position in the three segments in which to operate its business units: distribution of fuel through the Petroleo Ipiranga and Ultragaz , production of chemicals through Oxiteno and...

, and its retail operations would be split between Grupo Ultra (in the South and Southeast regions, including the Ipiranga brand) and Petrobras (elsewhere in Brazil, where Petrobras will have 5-year rights to use the Ipiranga name, while rebranding to Petrobras).

Subsidiaries

Empresas Petróleo Ipiranga was composed by the following companies:

• Companhia Brasileira Petróleo Ipiranga (now owned by Grupo Ultra)
• Ipiranga Petroquímica (now owned by Braskem)
• quantiQ (formerly Ipiranga Química, now owned by Petrobras and Braskem)
• Empresa Carioca de Produtos Químicos (now owned by Braskem)
• Refinaria Petróleo Ipiranga S/A (now owned by Grupo Ultra, Petrobras and Braskem)
• Distribuidora de Produtos Petróleo Ipiranga S/A (now owned by Grupo Ultra)

External links

• The company's home page