Rio, November 10, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Petrobrás has already begun to reformulate its Strategic Plan, which foresees investments of US$ 34.3 billion (US$ 18 billion in Brazil) between 2003 and 2007. In its revised Strategic Plan, which should be ready in March, 2004, Petrobrás intends to give priority to the production of the approximately 1 billion barrels of light oil discovered this year, principally in the Santos and Campos basins, and, to a lesser extent, in the Recife basin.

This information was passed along by the company's director of Exploration and Production, Guilherme Estrela. According to Estrela, the Plan of Evaluation, submitted to the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) on August 6, is also being accelerated. The purpose of this measure is to define the evaluation of the new petroleum areas with greater precision and speed. If the economic feasibility of these discoveries is confirmed, the company's reserves, which currently stand at about 11 billion barrels, should increase by around 6 billion barrels.

Estrela said that the company is also studying the possibility of leasing platform-ships as an alternative to speed up production. These ships would begin producing petroleum in the second half of 2005, compensating, in part, for the delay in the start-up of production by platforms P-51 and P-52. The economic viability of these platforms has been jeopardized by the excessive taxes imposed by the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro, especially through the Valentim Law, which establishes an 18% tax burden on new platforms. (DAS)