- Senators of Brazil’s largest political party say the upper house likely will approve a bill that relieves Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) of its role as sole operator and compulsory stakeholder in pre-salt oilfields.
- Changes would help the state-controlled oil company by reducing necessary investments in future oil rounds, the bill's top sponsor says, since it lacks the money to cover its share of development after racking up $125B in debt.
- While Pres. Rousseff herself is resisting deregulation, her Energy Minister recently expressed support for allowing PBR to opt out of the obligation to assume at least 30% ownership of all pre-salt projects and operate them.