Spain's Repsol and China's Sinopec announced the discovery of a huge oil reserve off the coast of Brazil late last month. In an email interview, Mark Langevin, the director of the consulting firm Brazil Works, discussed Brazil's offshore oil resources.
WPR: What is the size and scope of Brazil's offshore oil finds, and where do efforts to develop them stand?
Mark Langevin: For decades Brazil and its national oil company, Petrobras, struggled to achieve energy security to fuel national development and a stable balance of trade. In 2006 this struggle ended with the discovery of a 4 billion to 8 billion barrel hydrocarbon reservoir found in the offshore "pre-salt" reserves in the Tupi basin near the state of São Paulo.