Brazil's tough local content rules are responsible for
discouraging international investment in its expansive oil
reserves, said lawyers discussing how Latin American states can
secure more investor interest in their energy sectors during Latin
Lawyer's 6th Annual Oil and Gas conference.
The conference was held last Friday in Rio de Janeiro.
Local content rules in Brazil – which stipulate that
Petrobras must operate all pre-salt projects and take a 30 per cent
stake in them, and that a proportion of all equipment used in the
exploration phase must be Brazilian-made – have long been
blamed for dissuading international investors and causing
bottlenecks in the development of Brazil's oil and gas
industry. Dishearteningly for some, however, last month President
Dilma Rousseff said her government would not set aside current
local content requirements, despite Petrobras itself calling for
the rules to be relaxed.
