US offer to loan Petrobras $ 2 bn to develop Tupi basin oil reserve

The US government is planning to provide Brazil's state-controlled oil giant Petrobras up to $ 2 bn in loans, which could go up to $ 10 bn to fund the development of massive hydrocarbon reserves in the Tupi basin off Brazil's coast.
Last year Brazil attracted global attention when it announced the discovery of the second-biggest oil find in 20 years in the Tupi basin that measures 800 km by 200 km -- off Brazil's southern coast that analysts say might contain a massive 5 bn to 8 bn barrels of untapped light oil.

Brazilian planning minister Paulo Bernardo da Silva said that US President Barack Obama's national security adviser, General James Jones, discussed the matter with Brazilian officials during his visit to the country earlier. He said the US Export-Import Bank has signed a letter of intent for providing the $ 10 bn loan to Petrobras, but has issued a "preliminary commitment" of $ 2 bn.
In February, China offered Petrobras a loan-for-oil deal through its state-owned China Development Ban, which lent Petrobras $ 10 bn at low interest rates in return for guaranteed oil supplies.

The US's intention of providing a loan to Petrobras through the Export-Import Bank's US came on the heels of the Brazilian oil giant's announcement that it had discovered a new oil field in the Campos basin, holding up to an estimated 280 mm barrels of light crude at depths of 1,000 meters. The US funding will help Petrobras's oil drilling projects in the newly found off-shore "pre-salt" reserves in the Tupi basin, which will ensure that US companies benefit by support services and selling equipment to these projects.
The news of the Ex-Im loan to Petrobras drew criticism in the US, which has put a cap on drilling for oil in its own oil fields. Opposition parties have pointed out that the loan has been given to please George Soros, a major contributor to the Democratic Party and a major investor in Petrobras.

Analysts have opined that development of the subsalt fields around the Tupi, includingIara, Carioca, Parati, Jupiter and others, will require investments of $ 600 bn to $ 1.2 tn in the coming decades. The massive investments are required since the reserves are buried 7 km under the waves, under a salt layer 1 km thick.
It would also entail high degree of engineering feat and technological breakthroughs to tap as much as 40 bn barrels of oil cutting through 10 miles of ultra-hard salt amid wild temperature fluctuations in rough seas.