All Signed for Brazil to Start Getting US$ 10 Billion Chinese Loan

China's Sinopec Petrobras, the Brazilian state-controlled oil and gas multinational, informed that it has signed a contract with the Chinese permitting the first payment from a US$ 10 billion loan from China to help the company finance upcoming investments.

Offered by the China Development Bank, the credit will help underwrite Petrobras' developments up to 2013, which anticipate investments of US$ 174 billion. The financing deal was first announced last May.

The credit is conditioned on Petrobras supplying oil to the Chinese refining company Sinopec over the next decade, starting with the first installment of the loan.

Under those terms, Petrobras will export 150,000 barrels of oil a day to the Unipac Asia subsidiary for the first year of the agreement and 200.000 barrels a day for the rest of the contract.

In related news Brazilian congressional committees passed on Wednesday two of four bills designed to overhaul the country's oil legislation and give the government greater control over vast new offshore reserves.

Developing the new oil fields, which lie below a thick layer of salt deep beneath the ocean floor, will cost an estimated US$ 400 billion and could make Brazil one of the world's top ten oil exporters.

Committees in the House of Representatives approved a bill creating a fund that would invest oil revenues in education, health, and environment. A second bill was approved to create a new state agency to administer the new sub-salt oil contracts.

There is no consensus among legislators on two other bills that make up the oil reform package. One would give state energy giant Petrobras new oil fields held by the state, boosting the company's capital.

Another bill would change the existing concessions system to a production-sharing model, requiring that Petrobras operate and hold a minimum 30% stake in all new projects in the offshore sub-salt province.

Michel Temer, head of the lower house, wants to begin voting all four bills in the plenary on November 10. If approved, they would then go to the Senate, where the government has a narrower majority than in the House.

Mercopress

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil and Botswana Sign Five-Year Accord to Fight AIDS

During today’s visit of Botswana’s President, Festus Mogae, the governments of Botswana and Brazil ...

Best-seller Books, Plays and Movies

By Brazzil Magazine RIO Se Correr o Bicho Pega, Se Ficar o Bicho Come ...

Brazilian Aircraft Maker Embraer to Invest US$ 241 Million in Portugal

Portugal's government has approved on Thursday, September 11, contracts for Embraer investments in Évora, ...

1/3 of Pregnant Women Get Abortion in Brazil

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.4 million abortions take place in Brazil ...

There’s a Place for All Kinds of Socialists at Brazil’s Power Table

In 2006 Lula created a stir by announcing that he is not a “socialist” ...

Old Plan, Old River

California and Israel have been used as inspiration for several irrigation plans in the ...

Brazil Promotes Use of Natural Gas for 30,000 Buses

The Science, Technology, Development and Tourism Secretariat of the State of São Paulo, Brazil ...

Listening to Brazilian Classic

One of the joys of Rio is the fact that so much culture is ...

Obama: Brazil Is a Country of the Future no More. Future Has Arrived

Before flying to Rio on Sunday, Barack Obama, the president of the United States, ...

10,000 Brazilian Troops on War Games to Defend Brazil’s Oil and Nukes

Thousands of Brazilian military men have been very active. Brazil is holding military exercises ...