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.
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