Brazil oil reforms aim to help the poor

[Judi Lynn]

Source: UPI

Brazil oil reforms aim to help the poor

by Staff Writers
Rio De Janeiro (UPI) Aug 31, 2009

Brazil has embarked on extensive structural reforms in its oil and gas industry with the aim of increasing state control and reducing income disparity between various regions.
Greater governmental oversight of a sector largely within state control has long been expected, following numerous pronouncements by President Lula da Silva. But a more equitable sharing of Brazil's oil bonanza has been a bone of contention between the regions where oil production is located, including offshore Rio de Janeiro and areas away from the hub of energy industry activities.

Brazil has the second-largest crude oil reserves in South America, after Venezuela, and is rated by industry experts as one of the fastest-growing oil producers in the world. Rio de Janeiro state and its offshore reserves contain about 80 percent of Brazil's total production.

So far oil-producing regions have enjoyed cash windfalls from royalties while neighboring regions have looked on. Lula has declared his intention to change that.

Increased earnings from oil production and exports, Lula said, belong to the entire nation and should be used wisely to fund wider education programs, industrial and technological development and measures that help ease crushing poverty in the neighboring regions.


Read more: http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Brazil_oil_reforms_aim_to_help_the_poor_999.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. BRAZIL: New Law Would Put Oil Revenue into Development

BRAZIL: New Law Would Put Oil Revenue into Development
By Fabiana Frayssinet

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 31 (IPS) - On what he referred to as "a new independence day for Brazil," President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced Monday proposed new legislation that would increase state control over the management of the country's enormous offshore oil finds, with the aim of channeling much of the state's oil revenue into a national social fund.

The oilfield was discovered two years ago in an area of nearly 800 square km, at a depth of seven km, beneath a layer of salt up to two km thick which extends 500 km offshore in the Atlantic Ocean from the state of Espíritu Santo to Santa Catarina.

Lula said Brazil must take advantage of the reserves to strengthen Brazil's state oil company, Petrobras, which trades on national and international stock exchanges.

On his weekly radio programme "Coffee with the President", Lula said "We are talking about very large reserves that put Brazil among the world's largest oil producers."

"The subsalt oilfields are a gift from God - wealth which, if properly managed, can drive major transformations in Brazil, improving living conditions for our people," Lula added later, during the official ceremony held to announce the proposal, which must still be approved by Congress.

More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48281

[Vidar]

2. Bravo Brazil! You put Corporations r'US to shame!

[rosesaylavee]

3. On to the greatest!

Not that our fatcats would learn anything from this but what a wonderful, pragmatic way of dealing with a number of issues at once. How very kind and responsible of their leadership!