Brazil’s pre-salt exploration rules put on hold

The announcement of Brazil’s new pre-salt exploration regulations was delayed due to disagreements in evaluating the project, local media reported Thursday.

A meeting to discuss the exploration took place on Wednesday, but the government failed to reach a consensus. This means the new regulations would not be announced in two weeks as planned.

Brazil’s Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao said that there were many disagreements on the exploration, such as the creation of a sovereign fund and the distribution of royalties.

Meanwhile, Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil and gas giant, also remained undecided whether to participate in the pre-salt exploration.

Lobao said three projects were presented to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for evaluation. The first of them was establishing a regime in which all the oil in the pre-salt layer belongs to the Brazilian government. In this case, the companies exploring the product would receive a fixed share of the production.

The second was evaluating the possibility of a state-owned company to be the exclusive operator of the pre-salt layer fields. The third project was establishing a sovereign fund in which the pre-salt layer resources would be deposited.