Amid all the graphs resembling ski slopes which plot jobs and car sales, the boldness of Petrobras may come as a relief to Brazilians. Last month the state-controlled oil giant published its revised investment plan for the next five years. Its proposed capital spending of $174 billion over this period is bigger than the entire economy of Chile. By 2020, if all goes to plan, Petrobras and its foreign partners will be producing 5.7m barrels of oil and gas per day (see chart), more than half the output of Saudi Arabia. New refineries and gas terminals are planned, as well as drilling rigs (29 of them to be delivered by 2012, with a further 28 arriving by 2017). And all this after the oil price has fallen by $100 a barrel from its peak last year.rnWhen Petrobras announced in November 2007 that it had made the biggest oil discoveries of this century deep below the seabed, politicians became intoxicated at the prospect of untold riches. The government withdrew exploration rights in near-rnby areas from auction, and talked of setting up a new wholly state-owned company to do the job. It proposed a sovereign-wealth fund in which to house the treasure.
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