Shell, Mitsubishi and Brazil's Pátria in $700 million power joint venture in Rio

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Brazil's private equity group Pátria Investimentos and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, on Monday said they would invest $700 million (544 million pounds) to build and operate a gas-fired power plant in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

The joint venture will build the Marlim Azul thermal power plant with capacity of 565 megawatts (MW) in Macaé, along Rio's coast, and will use natural gas supplied by Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda. Pátria will have 50.1 percent of the venture, with 29.9 percent held by Shell and 20 percent by Mitsubishi.

(Reporting by Luciano Costa and Marcelo Teixeira)