By 13 votes to five, the special committee approved the Draft Bill (PL 5938/09) that sets up the sharing model in the exploitation of oil in the pre-salt layer. All the requests for separate votes were rejected and so the full substitute bill of the rapporteur, Deputy Henrique Eduardo Alves (PMDB-RN) was approved. This project is considered to be the "backbone" of the legal framework of the pre-salt, and now it goes to be voted on by the Floor of the House.

On the initiative of the Rapporteur, the text also raised from 10% to 15% the part of the royalties paid for oil exploitation and adopted new criteria for the distribution of these resources.

The share assigned to the Union generated much controversy, which was settled only late on Monday after a meeting of the members of the committee with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, ministers and state governors. The Federal Government gave way and the Union will keep only 22% of the royalties, leaving 25% for the few producing states such as Rio de Janeiro, Espirito Santo and Sao Paulo.

Best possible solution
For Deputy Miro Teixeira (PDT-RJ), the agreement represented the best possible scenario given the loss of resources that will be inevitable for the producing states. "Do we leave here satisfied? No. But we leave here with the conviction that more would be impossible."

He deems it essential that the Governors' agreement with President Lula be passed on to the allied base in the Chamber, "for the governing coalition to vote together, because otherwise there may be other types of alliances concerning other aspects of this project during the voting".

Royalties to the municipalities
According to the text, the few oil producing municipalities are entitled to 6% of the total amount of the royalties paid by the concessionnaires, and those affected by the operations of loading and unloading of oil will get 3%.

The rapporteur Henrique Eduardo Alves favoured the remaining states and municipalities in the Federation, which far outweigh the number of those who are producers. They will receive 44% of the royalties (22% for municipalities and an equal amount to the states), instead of the 7.5% paid today.

Alves anticipates that the controversy that arose in the special committee will continue in the Floor, but he is relying on the argument of a more just and equitable distribution of the royalties to ensure the final approval of the matter by the Chamber.

"Now, humbly, we go to the Floor. This does not mean that everything is signed and sealed. I am open to suggestions to improve and correct (the bill) because we are dealing with the present and future of this country and of the Brazilian people," said the rapporteur. "It is a huge amount of wealth. If every one understands that he must fight for his place without harming anyone else, I think the whole country will come out ahead. We will now seek consensus on this difficult Plenary Session of 513 deputies."

Sharing instead of concessions
Besides the royalties issue, the project adopts the system of sharing in the exploitation of oil, replacing the current concession model. On this specific point, the rapporteur will clash with the opposition, according to Deputy José Maia Filho (DEM-PI).

The opposition rejects the sharing model, said Maia Filho, "ideologically and also in face of the results that Petrobras has achieved in recent years. In 10 years Petrobras has almost doubled production and the country has become self-sufficient with the concession system, which is adopted in countries that have an organized tax system, like ours, and that have a strong democracy. This is the position of the Democrats, and of the PSDB as well”.

The bill approved in the committee also maintains Petrobras as the sole operator in the whole area included in the pre-salt oil deposits. It also defines that the so-called signing bonus, which is the amount paid by the concessionaire that wins the bid for the exploitation of oil fields, will be distributed in the following way: 90% of the funds for the Union and 10% for states and municipalities.

Reporting - José Carlos Oliveira/Rádio Câmara
Edition - Newton Araújo
Translation – Rejane Xavier