Brazil's state-owned oil and gas giant Petrobras said on Monday that it will account for one-third of what the Brazilian government expects to spend until 2010 to boost the country's economic development.

According to the company, it will invest 171.7 billion reals (80.6 billion U.S. dollars) of the 235 billion U.S. dollars established by the Program of Acceleration of Growth (PAC). The program was announced earlier on Monday by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Petrobras enlisted some of its projects that follow PAC's directions in a bid to reach an annual growth rate of five percent.

In 2006, Brazil achieved self-sufficiency in petroleum. This year, it aims to keep a production level that exceeds domestic consumption by a minimum of 20 percent, Petrobras said.

The company revealed that it intends to modernize its refining plants in order to increase the volume of processed crude oil.

Petrobras also aims to increase its production from the current 15.8 million cubic meters per year to 40 million by the end of 2008, and 55 million by 2010. It plans to invest 25 billion reals (12 billion U.S. dollars) to develop operations in gas fields and to process gas in the Southeast of Brazil.

Source: Xinhua