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Petrobras resumed urea production on April 30, 2026, at Araucária Nitrogenados S.A. (Ansa), a fertilizer plant in Paraná that had been idled since 2020, following an R$ 870 million investment in its reactivation. The unit has the capacity to produce 720 thousand tons of urea per year, equivalent to 8% of the national market, in addition to 475 thousand tons of ammonia and 450 thousand m³ of ARLA 32. The resumption is part of an integrated strategy that includes the already reactivated Fafen-SE and Fafen-BA plants, and the future UFN-III in Três Lagoas (MS).
Petrobras has just reactivated a fertilizer plant that had been idle for six years in Paraná, and the R$ 870 million investment reveals the scale of the state-owned company’s bet on a sector that Brazil practically abandoned in the last decade. Araucária Nitrogenados S.A. (Ansa), located in the Curitiba Metropolitan Region next to the Getúlio Vargas Refinery (Repar), resumed urea production on April 30 with the capacity to process 720 thousand tons per year, a volume that represents about 8% of the national market for the most used fertilizer in Brazilian agribusiness.
The context that justifies the investment is one of strategic vulnerability. Brazil imports about 85% of the fertilizers it consumes, and this dependence became a concrete risk when the war in Ukraine caused the price of urea to quadruple in the international market in 2022. Russia is the largest supplier of fertilizers to Brazil and the second largest global producer, which means that every geopolitical conflict involving Moscow directly affects the cost of planting soybeans, corn, and coffee on Brazilian soil.
What the fertilizer plant produces and why it matters
Ansa does not only produce urea: the plant has a capacity for 475 thousand tons per year of ammonia and 450 thousand cubic meters per year of ARLA 32, a liquid reducing agent used in heavy diesel engines of trucks and buses to reduce pollutant emissions. The combination of urea, ammonia, and ARLA 32 in a single industrial plant positions Ansa as a strategic asset that simultaneously serves agribusiness (fertilizers), the chemical industry (ammonia), and road transport (ARLA 32).
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Its location next to the Getúlio Vargas Refinery is no coincidence. Natural gas is the main raw material for urea and ammonia production, and integration with the refinery reduces logistical costs for supplying the input. William França, Petrobras’ Director of Industrial Processes, stated that “with the Fafens and, now, Ansa fully operational, we reduce external dependence on urea and strengthen the productive chain of agribusiness and national industry.”
The integrated strategy: four plants and the goal of 35% of the market
image: Michel Chedid / Petrobras Agency
The reactivation of Ansa is not an isolated event. It is part of an integrated movement by Petrobras that includes four fertilizer plants at different stages. Fafen-SE, in Sergipe, resumed operation in December 2025. Fafen-BA, in Bahia, restarted production in January 2026. Ansa, in Paraná, is the third. And UFN-III, in Três Lagoas (MS), had its works resumed on April 13, 2026, with commercial operation expected in 2029.
With the three factories already operating, Petrobras aims for about 20% of the domestic urea market. When UFN-III comes into operation, the goal is to reach 35% of the national market, a level that would significantly reduce Brazil’s exposure to price fluctuations in the international market and supply interruptions caused by conflicts such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East. The goal is ambitious, but the volume of imports that the country will still carry out even with the four plants in operation shows that dependence will not be eliminated, only reduced.
More than 2,000 jobs and the regional impact
The reactivation of Ansa generated more than 2,000 jobs during the mobilization phase, and the factory operates with about 700 direct positions in the regular phase. The impact on the Curitiba Metropolitan Region goes beyond direct jobs: the chain of suppliers, maintenance services, transport, and food moves the local economy of Araucária and neighboring municipalities.
Marcelo dos Santos Faria, industrial director and interim president of Ansa, highlighted that “**Ansa is resuming urea production at a time when expanding the internal capacity of this input is increasingly relevant for Brazil.” The union perspective is one of historical achievement. Cibele Vieira, general coordinator of the Unified Federation of Oil Workers (FUP), stated that “even if we couldn’t immediately prevent the factory’s closure, the resistance made its resumption possible.”
Why the factory was idle for six years
Ansa was idled in 2020 during Roberto Castello Branco’s tenure as president of Petrobras, justified by operational losses. The decision was part of the state-owned company’s divestment and asset sale program, which at the time prioritized short-term financial returns and reducing the portfolio of businesses considered non-essential. Fertilizers were classified as a loss-making segment that did not compensate for the cost of keeping the plants in operation.
The inflection came with the change in management. The current president of Petrobras, Magda Chambriard, has expressed interest in resuming investments in fertilizers since her inauguration in 2024, treating the sector as strategic for Brazil’s food security and industrial sovereignty. The R$ 870 million investment in Ansa is a result of this reorientation, and the resumption of works on UFN-III in Três Lagoas confirms that the decision is not isolated but part of a long-term plan.
Pre-salt natural gas as a raw material for urea
The connection between Petrobras, fertilizers, and natural gas is direct: urea is produced from natural gas, which provides the hydrogen needed to synthesize ammonia, a precursor to urea. Brazil has significant natural gas reserves in the pre-salt, and the integration between gas exploration and fertilizer production is one of the strategic vocations that Petrobras can explore to add value to a resource that is currently partially reinjected into wells or flared.
The challenge is the price. Brazilian natural gas is still expensive compared to that of competitors like Russia, Qatar, and Algeria, and this cost difference was precisely the argument used to justify the idling of the factories in 2020. If Brazil wants its fertilizer plants to be competitive in the long term, the debate about natural gas prices needs to advance, involving regulation, taxation, and investments in transport infrastructure that reduce the cost of the input at the factory gate.
Do you think Petrobras should have stopped the fertilizer factory in 2020, or has Brazil already paid too high a price for depending on imports? Tell us in the comments if you believe Brazilian agribusiness needs national urea and what you think about Petrobras resuming investments in fertilizers.
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