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Brazil's minister requests more oil revenues for public health
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-23 16:15

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil's health minister said on Friday that part of the revenues earned from the exploitation of newly discovered oil fields should go to public health.

Jose Gomes Temporao was referring to the pre-salt layer off the Brazilian coast, where large deposits have been found under an ultra-deep thick layer of salt.

"Obviously I am pressing for the public health to get a part of the resources obtained from 'pre-salt'," said Temporao after attending an seminar in Rio de Janeiro.

Temporao said he was sure that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was not only thinking about education but also about health.

In 2006, two pre-salt layer oil fields, Tupi and Iara, were discovered in Brazil with an estimated reserves of 5 billion to 8 billion barrels of oil equivalent in the Tupi mega-field.

Dilma Rousseff, the president's cabinet chief-of-staff, told a press conference a week ago that Brazil would invest part of the revenues from the exploitation into education.

The budget totalling $30.87 billion earmarked for health in 2008 was insufficient to guarantee the "rights established in the Constitution for all Brazilians," Temporao said, adding that at least 50 percent more will be needed for the next four years.

Temporao refused to comment on the possibility of creating a new state enterprise dedicated exclusively to the pre-salt layer oil fields.

But Eugenio Gouveia Vieira, president of the Rio de Janeiro state federation of industries, said the idea would "be crazy," sticking to the current rules that benefit the private enterprises.