MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

• 

  dp1985

  Juliet, you obviously are clueless about the operating environment in Brazil & the govt's. strategic objectives. the days of 'western' exploitation are over. incidentally, Brazil happens to be a 'western' country with a technologically advanced energy sector & deep sea drilling technology superior to the 'western' majors. this natural wealth w/ be used to advance the country's social indicators & finally usher it into the '1st' world. 'western' majors are not doing Brazil any favors & all they have to offer is capital & assistance with infrastructure development in certain under developed regions, such as the northeast. chinese loans & credit lines w/b used to source 'chinese' equipment as part of the capex equipment reqs. for the energy matrix development (like US exim bank programs). there is nothing wrong w/ that. there w/b no chinese 'labor' input.
  
  Brazil is leaning toward an energy matrix model similar to Norway's, which is an excellent model & which has served Norway well.

  Apr 11th, 2009 - 09:29 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  -+

• 

  Juliet

  You appear to have misunderstood my argument. You are misinterpreting the article as making the case for uncontrolled “western exploitation” which is against Brazil's national interest. This is clearly not what the article says. That foreign firms may now or in the near future want to gain or expand access to the pre-salt fields is a practical reality about which the article makes no judgment.
  
  My argument is that such companies wishing to gain access - and later to preserve it - are well advised to give careful consideration to national stakeholder interests and concerns such as you have expressed. I agree that western majors may have to do more than provide capital and infrastructure (though these are certainly important) if they wish to build stakeholder support and a more secure license to operate. I am well aware of Petrobras’ deep-water expertise, but this does not detract from the point that further technological expertise and capacity from international companies may potentially be needed given the vast scale of the oilfields and the operational challenges involved.
  
  These are not arguments simply for foreign investment under any conditions, but rather for seeing how stakeholders can work together towards mutually beneficial outcomes (first and foremost those in Brazil's national interest), according to the model and priorities decided by the Brazilian government.
  
  Juliet Hepker

  May 11th, 2009 - 10:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  -+

Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!