(Reuters) – Brazil’s Senate on Tuesday night approved an amended transfer of rights agreement settling a dispute over pre-salt oil fields between the government and oil company Petrobras that still needs to pass the lower house to clear way the way for auctions later this year.
Senators agreed that 3 percent of the pre-salt surplus will go to oil producing states, particularly cash-strapped Rio de Janeiro.
The government will pay Petrobras $9 billion, while states and municipal governments will each get 15 percent of an estimated $25 billion the auctions are expected to bring in.
