Brazil: Set to take a bigger stake in Petrobras next year
Brazil to raise stake in Petrobras
Brazil's government plans to boost its stake by the coming year in state-run Petrobras, which is partly owned by private investors, by offering new oilfields in exchange for company shares, a source said.
The plan is part of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's proposed regulatory overhaul that would change rules on how companies can access offshore pre-salt reserves that the industry views as a new frontier for the oil business.
Petrobras would issue new shares and give them to the government in exchange for rights to develop unexplored oilfields owned by the state, but would assign a conservative value to the assets to ensure minority shareholders' stakes are not diluted, the source said.
"Yes, this is going to happen, and the decision should be quick in order for the operation to take place by the end of 2010," the source, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.
"The government can make an (equity) contribution based on the estimated volume of oil for areas not yet bid. If the estimate is 10 billion barrels, they would use a conservative figure such as 5 billion barrels for capitalisation."
The government holds some 55% of voting shares in Petrobras, which was partly privatised in 1997.
But the government controls only 32% of the total market capitalisation.
Government advisors met with Lula this week to discuss possible proposals to Congress that will include changing a concession system to a production sharing regime, creating a state development fund, and founding a new state-run energy company to manage pre-salt assets.
A source with knowledge of the meeting told Reuters Lula will propose that Petrobras be the only operator for new pre-salt projects.
But advisors present in the meetings have said there are still disagreements between the ministers over what measures to present to Congress.
The approval process will likely be slowed by a continuing ethics scandal in the Senate.