Business | Oil & Gas
Channel Sponsor
Brazil could raise oilfield stakes after Tupi windfall
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva may boost the government's stake in oil fields after the largest discovery in the Americas since 1976 prompted a review of rules for how petroleum deposits are developed.
- Bloomberg
- Published: 00:04 July 10, 2008
Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva may boost the government's stake in oil fields after the largest discovery in the Americas since 1976 prompted a review of rules for how petroleum deposits are developed.
Lula is examining how Brazil and producers will share revenue from offshore deposits that may hold more than $6 trillion of oil at current prices.
Lula said the Tupi discovery and nearby prospects will at least triple Brazil's crude reserves, and he wants the wealth to be shared nationwide.
"This oil is ours, it belongs to the people, not Petrobras or Shell," Lula said in a June 26 interview. "The wealth is not for the few, it's for the many."
Brazil would join oil-rich nations demanding a bigger piece of record profits after petroleum prices tripled in four years. Petrobras is calling for agreements like those used by Nigeria to take ownership stakes rather than selling concessions. Unions that helped bring Lula to power in 2003 are lobbying lawmakers to nationalise the industry, a decade after opening it to competition.
Share this article
Popular in Business
-
Budget travel
Airlines in the region
Take a pictorial look at some of the budget airlines in GCC
Business Editor's choice
-
Cafe Nero's premium coffee blends
UK chain plans to open 50 outlets in region following UAE launch
-
Emirates to fly direct to Tokyo
Airline considers code-share deal with JAL after adding second destination in Japan
-
Work on world's longest sea crossing
The proposed Qatar-Bahrain causeway project is estimated to cost Dh9.9 billion
