Brazil privatises oil production
On August 6 Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso signed the Petroleum Law, privatising the country's lucrative oil industry.
The law ends the monopoly of the state-owned Petrobras over oil exploration and production, and it opens up the sector to foreign investments.
The Buenos Aires daily Clarin reports "euphoria" in the Sao Paulo stock exchange over what is expected to produce "very juicy investments" of some US$13 billion over the next three years, including US$4 billion from multinational corporations. The new law is considered the most radical step to date in Cardoso's neoliberal privatisation program.