1. PRIVATIZATION OF LIBRA PRE-SALT OIL FIELD IS A CRIME OF LESA
HOMELAND
Fernando Alcoforado *
Consummated crime of lesa homeland practiced by the Rousseff government to Libra
auction, the largest oil field ever discovered in Brazil, in the pre -salt Santos basin. The
auction field Libra is harmful to the national interest because although Petrobras have
been 40 %, foreign companies were left with the bulk (60 % of the reserves of 8 billion
to 12 billion barrels of oil). The federal government practiced crime against the
Brazilian nation because privatized 60 % of the reserves of Libra when it should have
adopted the policy of taking the Petrobras pre -salt alone and not in partnership with
foreign companies, as advocated by Ildo Sauer, former director of Petrobras Gas and
energy under Lula government and current professor at the USP Institute for Energy and
Environment.
Sauer believes that the Libra auction harmed the national interest stating that Petrobras
is the company most capable in the world for oil exploration in sea deep waters that
could get loans from banks, how it will make foreign companies [See text País pode
perder até R$ 331 bi com Libra (Country can lose up to R $ 331 billion with Libra says
Sauer) published on website <http://www.dgabc.com.br/Noticia/489201/pais-podeperder-ate-rs-331-bi-com-libra-diz-ildo-sauer?referencia=minuto-a-minuto-topo>]. The
argument presented by advocates of risk contracts during the Geisel government in the
1970s and the end of the state oil monopoly during the FHC, Lula and Dilma Rousseff
is that Petrobras nor the Brazilian government would be provided sufficient resources to
invest increase in oil production in Brazil. it is , however, great fallacy of this statement.
Currently, Petrobras does not have the resources for investment in oil production
because the federal government, in its efforts to combat inflation is back in Brazil,
prevents Petrobras to generate resources for investment creating obstacles to the
adoption of a rational pricing policy of petroleum products in the country. On the other
hand, the federal government has no resources for investment to meet the most basic
needs of the Brazilian people, much less to finance oil exploration of pre-salt because
almost half of the budget of federal government is allocated to the servicing of domestic
debt (interest + amortization) whose main beneficiary is the national and international
financial system.
It should be noted that, besides the alternative of obtaining loans by Petrobras proposed
by Sauer to finance exploration of oil in pre-salt oil layer, it would also consider the
alternative to use funds from the budget of the federal government since it take the
decision to cease financial depletion that occurs when allocate almost half of its budget
for the payment of interest and amortization to creditors of the domestic public debt (R$
985 billion). This financial depletion would cease if the federal government renegotiate
with your creditors lengthening the payment period of the domestic public debt.
Therefore, it is a fallacy to claim that the government cannot afford to invest in oil
exploration in the pre-salt layer. Just do not bend to the dictates of the international
financial system and to have the resources that the nation needs to develop and
Petrobras can assume their responsibility towards the nation.
It is unacceptable that the Brazilian government intended 43.98 % of the budget of the
Republic of 2013 for the payment of interest and amortization of domestic debt when
there is a compelling need for public funding of around 2 trillion dollars to invest in
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2. economic precarious infrastructure (energy, transport and communications) and social
(education, health, sanitation and housing). The pity is that the federal government
intended 43.98 % of the budget for interest payments and amortization of debt (R$ 985
billion), surpassing the resources allocated to education (3.34 %), health (4.17 %),
national defense (1.72 %) and public safety (0.19 %), among other items. The states and
municipalities, almost bankrupt, receive transfer of the Union (federal government) only
10.21 %.
In other words, the lion's share of the budget of the Republic is for the payment of
interest and amortization of domestic debt. This is why the Brazilian government at all
levels (federal, state and municipal) don´t have the resources to meet their most basic
needs. If there isn´t a reversal of this framework it will be accentuated in the future the
imbalance between demand and availability of resources to meet the needs of the
country in economic and social infrastructure to the detriment of the population and the
national productive sector, including Petrobras investments. Brazilian government to
extend the deadline for payment of domestic debt should renegotiate with your
creditors, ie, with domestic and foreign banks (creditors 55% of debt), mutual funds (21
% of the creditors of debt), pension funds (16 % of the creditors of the public debt) and
non-financial companies (creditors 8% of debt).
The crime against homeland practiced by the federal government became evident with
the pseudo Libra auction, the largest and most promising field of pre-salt layer, which
was "auctioned" (with quotes ) at a price far below acceptable. With only a proposal for
exploration of Libra, without competitors, in practice there was no auction. The result of
pseudo auction showed that 41.65% of the excess oil will stay with the Brazilian state
and 58.85% with the winning consortium. This consortium, Petrobras will have 40 % of
the business, and the Chinese state will be with 20 % of the initiative and the European
Total and Shell will hold the remaining 40%, with each getting 20 %. Even with highcost exploration, requiring the development of new technologies, the field of Libra is a
reservoir virtually riskless return, thanks to extensive research conducted by Petrobras.
In pseudo auction, the share of 41.65% of the excess oil to the Brazilian State is
considered very low, especially if one takes into account the practice of auctions around
the world, where governments are about 60 % 80% of the shares in models of similar
contracts.
Trying to justify her crime against nation, President Dilma Rousseff said so fallacious,
after the auction, that most of the funds resulting from the operation of the Libra field
goes to education and health and, therefore, the auction "is well different privatization"
(!!!!). Carlos Tautz, journalist, coordinator of the Institute More DemocracyTransparency and citizen oversight of governments and corporations, states in his article
under the title Dilma privatizou Libra, sim! (Dilma privatized Libra , yeah!), published
in Blog Noblat, that "nothing false in Brazil in recent days than the Dilma assertion that
she would have not privatized the Libra field in Brazilian pre-salt". Tautz adds that it's
no use trying to fool people because she sold, yes, and for a vile price, who can be the
first of several oil fields billionaires. Furthermore, Tautz said that she "can include this
crime against the homeland in your resume and prepare to be charged by people in the
2014 elections".
With the privatization of Libra, Dilma Rousseff, Lula, the PT and the parties allied with
the government can no longer stand, as they did in the 2010 campaign, the banner of
defense of the public interest in Brazil, because the current government did the same the
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3. Cardoso government who strove also against the national interest with his anti-national
policy of privatization.
*
Alcoforado, Fernando, engineer and doctor of Territorial Planning and Regional Development from the
University of Barcelona, a university professor and consultant in strategic planning, business planning,
regional planning and planning of energy systems, is the author of Globalização (Editora Nobel, São
Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo,
1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do
desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,
http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel,
São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era
Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social
Development-The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Muller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG,
Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (P&A Gráfica e Editora,
Salvador, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global
(Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011) and Os Fatores Condicionantes do
Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), among others.
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