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Business
Pecém Terminal Reshapes Fuel Supply in Brazil’s Northeast
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August 27, 2026
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6 min read
Brazil · ENERGY
Key Facts
- —Location The Pecém fuel terminal sits in São Gonçalo do Amarante, in Ceará state.
- —Investment The declared cost is R$640 million, or about US$124 million at current rates.
- —Capacity Projected storage is 240,000 cubic metres of petroleum products, biofuels and chemicals.
- —Jobs Construction employs about 1,040 people, with roughly 100 permanent posts planned afterwards.
- —Reach Executives expect the site to cover 20 percent of Northeast Brazil’s fuel consumption.
The Ceará project replaces Fortaleza’s ageing Mucuripe tank farm and stretches its reach across five states.
Grupo Dislub Equador is finishing the largest fuel terminal now under construction in Brazil, at the Pecém port complex in Ceará. The Pecém fuel terminal is due to begin commercial operation during 2027.
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What is being built at Pecém
Grupo Dislub Equador is building a liquid fuels terminal inside the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex in Ceará, Brazil. The site lies in São Gonçalo do Amarante, on the Ceará coast west of Fortaleza.
The Pecém fuel terminal will hold petroleum derivatives, ethanol, other biofuels, chemicals and crude oil. The company and the Ceará industry federation describe it as the largest fuel terminal now being built in Brazil.
Storage capacity is projected at 240,000 cubic metres, with a first phase reported at 170,000 cubic metres. Earlier statements cited 220,000 cubic metres, so the final figure has moved as contracts were signed.
The declared investment is R$640 million (US$124 million), up from R$430 million (US$83 million) at groundbreaking. Funding combines the group’s own capital with a loan from Banco do Nordeste, the regional development bank.
Brazilian real figures here use the PTAX selling rate, the Central Bank of Brazil’s official daily dollar quote. That rate stood at 5.1604 reais per dollar on 26 August 2026.
Who Grupo Dislub Equador is
Grupo Dislub Equador is a fuel distributor headquartered in Recife, in the state of Pernambuco. It operates in 17 Brazilian states, concentrated in the North, Northeast and Centre-West.
The international trading house Vitol agreed in 2019 to buy 50 percent of the group. Brazil’s antitrust authority, the Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica, cleared that deal the same year.
At the time of that deal the group ran Brazil’s sixth-largest service station network. Chief executive Marcelo Magalhães now wants about 800 sites by 2029, up from just over 500.
The company also runs Equador Log in Itacoatiara, Amazonas, described as the North’s largest private fuel terminal. The Pecém fuel terminal is the group’s tenth terminal and by far its largest.
Why Fortaleza’s old tank farm had to move
Ceará’s fuel storage has long sat at Mucuripe, beside the federal port in central Fortaleza. State and city authorities have pushed for years to move those tanks away from dense neighbourhoods.
State Law 19.012, published in August 2024, made the Mucuripe licences provisional and tied them to a relocation plan. The law also bars state bodies from approving expansions at the old site.
Companies affected include Raízen, Ipiranga, Vibra, Copa Energia, Nacional Gás and Ultragaz. A binding settlement with prosecutors sets 2027 as the end of their stay in that area.
Mucuripe holds up to 140,000 cubic metres today, below the capacity now projected at the new site. The Pecém fuel terminal is meant to absorb that volume and leave headroom for growth.
What energy security means in practice
About half of the liquid fuel consumed in Ceará arrives by road from other states. That haulage raises costs and feeds through to pump prices, according to the group’s chief executive.
Executives say the Pecém fuel terminal can cover roughly 20 percent of Northeast Brazil’s fuel consumption. The Ceará industry federation puts the local ambition higher, at the whole of the state’s demand.
Beyond Ceará, the company targets 37 percent of Rio Grande do Norte and 35 percent of Piauí. It also aims at 10 percent of Paraíba and 4 percent of Pernambuco, across some 400 municipalities.
The company describes a target market of more than four billion litres a year. Fortaleza’s Mucuripe port currently handles about 1.4 billion litres annually, on the same executives’ figures.
Neither the company nor Brazilian regulators have published how many days of regional demand the tanks would cover. That number remains unconfirmed.
Permits, approvals and what is still open
Environmental licensing runs through Ceará’s Superintendência Estadual do Meio Ambiente, the state environment agency known as Semace. The state environment council, the Conselho Estadual do Meio Ambiente, endorsed tank storage at Pecém.
Commercial operation still needs clearance from the Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis. That agency, Brazil’s oil, gas and biofuels regulator, is expected to authorise the site in 2027.
The land sits inside the Pecém complex, run by the state-owned Companhia do Complexo Industrial e Portuário do Pecém. Its management has publicly backed the project as a supply and price relief for Ceará.
Banco do Nordeste financed R$343 million (US$66 million) of the earlier R$430 million (US$83 million) budget. The group has not disclosed the financing split for the enlarged budget.
The customers already signed up
The company says nine contracts are signed for capacity at the Pecém fuel terminal. Named counterparties include Petrobras, Acelen, Vitol, Gunvor, PetroRecôncavo, Ale Combustíveis, Inpasa, Binatural and Transnordestina.
The PetroRecôncavo deal covers crude produced in the Potiguar Basin in Rio Grande do Norte. It adds about 40,000 cubic metres of dedicated tankage, roughly 250,000 barrels of crude oil.
Contract values were not disclosed by any party. The company says talks continue with further distributors under confidentiality clauses.
The design is an open tank farm, letting rival distributors rent space rather than build their own. Executives have suggested around 20 distributors could eventually use the site.
Rail, the port and the wider market
The terminal is designed to connect to the Transnordestina railway, which runs from Eliseu Martins in Piauí to Pecém. That line covers 1,206 kilometres and could push fuel deep into the interior.
The site is planned as a bonded terminal, able to handle imports and exports. Deep water at Pecém allows larger vessels than several other Northeast terminals can take.
Loading capacity is quoted at up to 1,500 trucks a day, served by 35 kilometres of pipelines. The Pecém complex moved almost 21 million tonnes of cargo during 2025.
Other operators are moving in as well, including a Supergasbras liquefied petroleum gas terminal licensed at Pecém. Construction was about 70 percent complete in May 2026 and was running four months ahead of schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where exactly is the new Dislub Equador terminal?
It stands inside the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex in São Gonçalo do Amarante, Ceará. The Pecém fuel terminal is not in Pernambuco, although the group is headquartered in Recife.
When will the terminal start operating?
Construction was due to finish during 2026, with commercial operation planned for 2027. Regulatory clearance for the site is expected in the third quarter of 2027.
How much fuel will the terminal hold?
Projected storage is 240,000 cubic metres, with a first phase reported at 170,000 cubic metres. That compares with up to 140,000 cubic metres at the old Mucuripe tank farm in Fortaleza.
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Sources
- www.folhape.com.br
- diariodonordeste.verdesmares.com.br
- movimentoeconomico.com.br
- www.cnnbrasil.com.br
- mais.opovo.com.br
- mais.opovo.com.br
- mais.opovo.com.br
- mais.opovo.com.br
- www1.sfiec.org.br
- valor.globo.com
- valor.globo.com
- www.complexodopecem.com.br
- olinda.bcb.gov.br
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