Brazil's state-run Petrobras confirmed on December 29 that oil fields recently discovered offshore contained 8.3 billion barrels of recoverable crude and gas - and said the biggest field was being renamed "Lula."
That nomenclature happens to be the nickname of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who steps down on Saturday after overseeing eight years of prosperity in Brazil capped by the oil discoveries.
Petrobras explained, though, that the decision to change the name of the field from Tupi to Lula came from its tradition of naming such deepwater zones after marine animals.
Lula in Portuguese means squid. The president formally added the nickname to his full name, and he is universally known as Lula in the country. "It's not my name - it's the name of a crustacean," Lula protested when asked whether the move was to honour him, after he bolstered Petrobras's control over the oil. Brazil hopes the fields will propel it into the top league of oil exporting nations, securing its drive to become the world's fifth-biggest economy in a few years' time. Petrobras said the Lula field was Brazil's biggest, a "supergiant" field with an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of recoverable oil and gas.
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