Pre-salt to speed up countrys growth, affirm the oil companies
O Estado de S. Paulo 05/21/2009
With the discovery of the giant pre-salt reserves, Brazil has the real chance to speed up the economic and social development of the country, as long as it avoids the errors many nations have made because of the so-called "oil curse" and speeds up the definition of the new rules for the exploration of the new oil province. This was the main conclusion taken from yesterday's debate at the 21st National Forum, at BNDES (National Development Bank), annually organized by the former-minister of Planning João Paulo dos Reis Velloso.
To follow a model similar to the Norwegian one - with a specific fund for education and the good use of the funds generated by the oil - and adapt it to the reality and necessity of Brazil was the consensual theme. José Formigli, executive-manager of Petrobras for the pre-salt, avoided taking a stand on the new model. For him, adopting a model similar to Norway's would spare the country from the "oil curse" that affects oil producing nations in which "everything goes wrong" after they discover great oil reserves. A classic example is Venezuela.