Brazil's lower chamber of Congress approved this week the main points of a bill removing a requirement that state-led oil company Petrobras be the sole operator of vast offshore oil reserves in the costly subsalt layer with a minimum 30% stake in their development.
Brazil's Subsalt Polygon, the offshore area that has already yielded some of the world's largest recent oil finds, may hold enough undiscovered petroleum and gas to supply the world's current oil needs for more than five years, researchers said.