In 1995, the stated-owned PETROBRAS lost the oil

monopoly it enjoyed since 1953 and is now starting to face

competition. It still dominates almost every segment of the

country’s upstream and downstream oil industry. But the

company is now changing at a fast pace. The new

management is grafting modern structures onto the company

by dividing it into business units, creating profit centers and

introducing benchmarking* for all activities. Though, by

law, the government must hold a controlling majority in the

company, it plans to sell excess stock, raising a minimum

of about US$ 2 billion.

*benchmarking – standard example or point of reference

for making comparisons.

Internet: http://www.buybrazil.org/econ.html (with adaptations).