”O petróleo é nosso”, went the nationalist slogan that caught the mood during the creation of Petrobras, Brazil’s government-controlled oil company, more than 50 years ago. Now the phrase and the nationalism are back.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva used the slogan last week while giving public support to the idea of creating another national oil company, this one 100 per cent state-controlled - unlike Petrobras, which has more than 60 per cent of its mostly non-voting capital in the hands of minority investors. The new company would manage the apparently vast new discoveries of oil in pre-sal (pre-salt) fields off Brazil’s coast.