Brazil Official:US May Not Accept 200-Mile Sea Border -Report
After we discover the oil here comes the US trying to muscle itself in.
May 14, 2008: 01:24 PM EST
RIO DE JANEIRO -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. may not accept Brazil's territorial claim for a 200-mile zone off its coast, Haroldo Lima, the head of Brazil's National Petroleum Agency, or ANP, is quoted as saying on the Estado newswire Wednesday.
That could bring problems to Brazil's claim for exclusive rights to exploration in the new and promising pre-salt oil area, which lies at a considerable distance from its coast, Lima said.
"We claim that the limit is 200 miles. Various countries agree and others don't," Lima is quoted as saying. "I remember that there is one (country that is kind of) angry with this 200 mile business, and that's the United States. They don't respect this 200-mile business very much."
If the U.S. doesn't accept Brazil's claim for a 200-mile zone, "we have a problem," Lima added.
Brazil's state-run oil firm, Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR), or Petrobras, in recent months has announced discoveries of oil fields in the far-from-the-coast pre-salt play that may contain dozens of billions of barrels in oil and gas.
The ANP in past years has awarded oil and gas exploration and production rights for blocks in the pre-salt area, including to U.S. companies such as ExxonMobil Corp (XOM).
-By Bernd Radowitz, Dow Jones Newswires; +55-11-8193-5722; bernd.radowitz@ dowjones.com; |
