Brazil's Lula hails new oil find as 'passport to the future'

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday hailed the discovery of oil near the Amazon coast as a "passport to the future," despite strong opposition to drilling in the area from environmentalists. Oil giant Petrobras last week announced it had identified the presence of hydrocarbons off the coast of northern Amapa state, nearly a year after it began drilling.

The majority state-owned firm began exploration after a five-year process to obtain an environmental permit. The oil was found in a maritime region known as the Equatorial Margin, about 175 kilometers off the Amazon coast.