MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

South America News

Petrobras among the top eight

Brazilian oil government owned company, Petrobras ranked eighth in 2000 among the main oil companies in the world according to US magazine Fortune. Two other Latinamerican related companies also figure among the top fifteen, Repsol-YPF and PDVSA from Venezuela. The "World's most admired companies" Fortune 2000 edition ranking follows an assessment of 379 companies and polls among leading CEO and risk analysts.Petrobras in 1999 was places 14th., among oil companies so last year it advanced six places. The top fifteen oil companies list is as follows: Royal Dutch/Shell Group; BP-Amoco; Exxon Mobil; Chevron; Total Fina ELF; Texaco; Elf Aquitaine, Petrobras, Repsol-YPF; USX/Marathon; ENI; PDVSA, SK/South Korea, Indian Oil and Sinopec. Criteria for the ranking includes management capacity; products and services qualities; innovation capacity; long term investments and financial solidity; community responsibility and development of global business.

Aircraft carrier for Brazil

Brazil's newly incorporated aircraft carrier, "Sao Paulo", the former French Navy "Foch", will be arriving in Rio do Janeiro next February 17th. The 32.780 tons displacement and 265 meters long "Sao Paulo" cost 12 million US dollars but was delivered without any weapons nor electronic gear. However the Brazilians have already purchased 20 A-4 Skyhawks from the United States which will be the main strike force of the carrier, and are planning to invest another 80 million US dollars to completely refurbish the vessel "Brazil has no valid conflict hypothesis with neighbors, but we must keep a defence proportional to our status as a nation", remarked José Luiz Machado, advisor of Brazilian Defence Minister Geraldo Quintao. According to Joanna Kid from the London based International Institute for Strategic Studies, Brazil has no military competitors in the region, "but wants to confirm its international status". "Sao Paulo" has a crew of 2.200 and as the French Navy "Foch" was commissioned from 1963 to 1999, actively participating in some world known conflicts, Lebanon, Bosnia, Kosovo. "Sao Paulo" replaces outdated "Minas Gerais" acquired by the Brazilian Navy forty ye