The president of Brazil's state-owned oil giant Petrobras said on Tuesday that the company is working on projects that will eventually allow Brazil to export 3 billion liters of ethanol per year to Japan.

Three projects are related to the Japanese market, the president of Petrobras Sergio Gabrielli told a press conference, refusing to set a deadline for achieving the exporting goal.

On the production front Petrobras and Brazilian ethanol producers have signed a letter of intent with the Japan-based Mitsui & Co for the construction of 40 ethanol plants in Brazil, which will use sugar cane as raw material, the president said.

These plants will have a combined output of 3 billion liters per year, he added.

On the infrastructure front, the president of Petrobras added that his company, Mitsui and local construction company Camargo Correa have signed another letter of intent for the construction of an ethanol pipeline that will link the ethanol production regions in the central western and south eastern regions in Brazil to the coast.

The pipeline will link the town of Senador Canedo, in Goias state, to Petrobras' terminal in Sao Sebastiao on the coast of Sao Paulo state. It will pass by Petrobras refinery in Paulinia, Sao Paulo state.