- Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and Total (NYSE:TOT) must accept Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) as a partner in their Gato do Mato offshore oil prospect under new Brazilian law, the country's top oil regulator said yesterday, a move that could strip Shell of operational control of the resource.
- The comments by the director general of oil regulator ANP appears to contradict earlier comments by Brazilian government lawyers that Shell's rights likely would be preserved; they also will add to concerns that government intervention is causing oil investors to lose interest in Brazil, and that the government may break a promise to honor all oil-rights contracts signed before the 2010 law.