Lula Oil Rules to Stir ‘Intense Debate’ as Lawmakers Vow Delays

By Fabiola Moura and Maria Luiza Rabello
Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s proposal for increasing government control over oil reserves will stir debate in Congress that could delay approval, opposition leaders said.
Lula attached an urgency clause to the bills that would require a vote within 90 days. Opposition parties began a filibuster in the lower house and are demanding the clause be removed, Gustavo Fruet, a deputy with the Social Democracy Party, Brazil’s biggest opposition party, said in an interview.
The plan would allow the government to keep a bigger portion of oil profits by having outside companies share crude drilled from so-called pre-salt fields with the state rather than the current model based on royalty payments. The area includes the Americas’ largest oil discovery since 1976.
“The opposition won’t give up on an intense debate,” Jose Agripino Maia, Senate leader for the opposition Democrats Party, said in an interview late yesterday in Brasilia. “We still have to evaluate what’s the better model for the Brazilians, if it’s the shared or the concession model.”
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the state-controlled oil company, lost $7 billion of market value after Lula unveiled the rules on Aug. 31 on concern the government may increase its stake in the company and dilute minority holders through a planned share sale to boost capital. The state would give rights to explore 5 billion barrels of oil in exchange for securities while individual shareholders also would be able to buy equity, Chief Financial Officer Almir Barbassa said yesterday.
Preferred shares of Petrobras, as the Rio de Janeiro-based company is known, rose 22 centavos, or 0.7 percent, to 31.60 reais in Sao Paulo trading yesterday, while the common stock dropped 0.5 percent to 37.33 reais.