Brazil's latest oil find will 'take care of' poverty

Will this be the answer, or will it have its own set of problems, compounding the situation…?

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RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Monday vowed to pump billions of petrodollars into the war on poverty in the wake of one of the world's biggest oil discoveries this decade.

Mr Lula said on radio: "Monday, Aug 31, represents a new independence day for Brazil.

"We are talking about a discovery of oil that is almost 6,000m (under the sea), huge reserves that place Brazil among the biggest oil producers in the world."

He claimed that the planned legislation would allow profits to be used to "take care of" education and poverty once and for all.

State-controlled energy company Petrobras discovered the Tupi oilfield, estimated to contain about 8 billion barrels of oil, off the country's south-east coast in November 2007.

The discovery led Brazil to suspend the auctioning of all offshore oil blocks pending new legislation, intended to give the government a larger slice of profits. Mr Lula is expected to create a "social fund" to channel oil profits into poverty-reduction initiatives.

The opposition has heavily criticised the changes. THE GUARDIAN

From TODAY, World – Wednesday, 02-Sep-2009

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