Questões de Concurso

Brazil government, states jockey in fight over oil wealth

    BRASÍLIA – Brazil’s government is rallying its forces to try to avoid the possibility of a rebellion in a heated dispute over the distribution of wealth from the country’s oil fields.
    Lawmakers and governors representing 24 Brazilian states that produce little or no oil are upset with President Dilma Rousseff’s decision to veto some parts of the legislation, which they say will reduce their revenue from existing oil contracts by around 12 billion Brazilian reais ($5.7 billion) of royalties a year.
    Ms. Rousseff vetoed those parts of the bill — just as her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, did in 2010. Otherwise the legislation would reassign revenue that had already been allocated to oil-producing states, primarily Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Espírito Santo.
    The three states are home to most of Brazil’s existing oil production. Output is expected to rise sharply in coming years as the country starts to tap vast new fields found off the country’s southeast coast. Developing them still poses a huge challenge, as they lie beneath deep Atlantic waters and several kilometers of rock and a shifting layer of salt.
    The emphasis of the legislation, according to the government, should be on the new oil wealth expected to flow from the new fields that have not yet started production.
    Politicians from the non-producing states — who have an overwhelming majority in both houses of Congress — are trying to drum up support to override the veto. There are signs of support in the lower house, which had already approved it once. They are also now working on gaining support in the Senate. A simple majority is needed in a joint session of congress to override the veto.
    Supporters of the government said an override would send the matter to the courts, which would further postpone plans to get oil exploration and development back on track after years of delays.
    Some of the government’s most senior allies in Congress, including Lower House Speaker Marco Maia and Sen. Wellington Dias, both of Ms. Rousseff’s Workers’ Party, have shown less than full enthusiasm for the administration’s position.
    Sen. Dias said the government could appease the nonproducing states by simply allocating more money their way. The federal government wants to funnel all of its proceeds from the oil wealth into a fund for education; Sen. Dias said that instead, a part of it could be set aside for other purposes.

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