Rio de Janeiro/Sao Paulo: Reliance Industries Ltd, the operator of the world’s third biggest refinery, is interested in investing in petrochemicals in Brazil, a top official at Brazil’s state-controlled oil company said on Wednesday.

Seeking alliance: Jose Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo, president and chief executive officer of Petroleo Brasileiro SA. Photograph: Adriano Machado / Bloomberg

The company may invest at Comperj, the petrochemicals complex in Rio de Janeiro state in south-east Brazil, and in the north-east, Paulo Roberto Costa, downstream director at Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), said.

“Reliance is one of the biggest companies in India, and they’re important in petrochemicals,” Costa said.

“Their interest in the north-east stems in part from their own textile business. That region is where some of our Brazilian textile businesses are located.” The company has shown interest in investing with Petrobras in Brazil’s north-east to make petrochemicals and raw materials for the textile industry, Costa said.

In Rio de Janeiro, Reliance has expressed interest in being a partner in a planned second-phase expansion of Petrobras’ new petrochemicals refinery expected some time after 2011, according to Costa.

Petrobras is seeking ways to transform its growing oil output into higher-value products such as petrol, aviation fuel, plastics and petrochemicals in an effort to increase profit and prompt development of Brazilian industry.

‘Valor Economico’ newspaper reported on Wednesday that Petrobras was seeking to attract Reliance.

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(Telma Marotto in Sao Paulo contributed to this story. )