COPENE Makes Announcement.

Business Editors

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 27, 2001

COPENE Petroquimica do Nordeste S.A. (NYSE: PNE; BOVESPA: CPNE5) today made the following announcement in compliance with CVM (Brazilian Securities Commission) Instruction No. 31/84.

At an auction held on July 25, 2001, the Banco Economico S.A., under extra-judicial liquidation, carried out the sale of all the shares of Economico S.A. Empreendimentos (ESAE). ESAE indirectly holds participation in the voting capital of NORDESTE QUIMICA S.A. - NORQUISA, which, in turn, holds controlling interest of COPENE - PETROQUIMICA DO NORDESTE S.A. At said auction, the purchaser of the assets auctioned was NOVA CAMACARI PARTICIPACOES S.A., a company controlled by the ODEBRECHT GROUP.

Furthermore, a meeting of the COPENE - PETROQUIMICA DO NORDESTE S.A. Board of Administration, held on July 24, 2001, approved the acquisition to be made by this Company of participations in companies that hold Camacari Petrochemical Complex petrochemical assets, namely: (a) total capital of CONEPAR - COMPANHIA NORDESTE DE PARTICIPACOES, which, among other assets, holds 35% of the voting capital of POLITENO INDUSTRIA E COMERCIO S.A. and 66.67% of the voting capital of POLIALDEN PETROQUIMICA S.A.; and (b) all of the capital assets of PROPPET S.A. The acquisition of the participations mentioned shall be carried out according to specific conditions, among them, the prior total divestment of all the shares issued by NORDESTE QUIMICA S.A. - NORQUISA, held indirectly by POLIALDEN PETROQUIMICA S.A.

These facts form part of the integration process between COPENE - PETROQUIMICA DO NORDESTE and other petrochemical assets, aimed at the gain of scale, operational and marketing synergies, and fiscal efficiency. Other information regarding this process shall be issued to the market.

COPENE produces and sells basic petrochemicals and utilities. With ethylene production capacity of 1,200,000 tons per year, the Company is Latin America's largest basic petrochemical producer and ranks among the ten largest plants in the world. Most of COPENE's output is consumed by downstream companies located at the Northeast Petrochemical Complex of Camacari, which produce "second generation" petrochemicals. COPENE is listed on the Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro stock exchanges and its ADRs (American Depositary Receipts) are traded in the US on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PNE. One ADR represents 50 preferred class A shares. The Company's Depositary Bank is Citibank, N.A. At June 30, 2001, COPENE had 1,792,416,435 shares outstanding. For additional information, please refer to the Company's web site at www.copene.com.br.

Certain information in this news release may be characterized as affirmations of future prospects which are based on the current beliefs and expectations of COPENE's Administration and are subject to uncertainties that may make real results substantially different, involving risks and uncertainties that may not be subject to the control of the Company. These risks include, but are not limited to, fluctuations in exchange rates, both technological and economic factors, and other risks mentioned in Company documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission - SEC, and with the Comissao de Valores Mobiliarios - CVM (Brazilian Securities Commission).