The oil and gas industry will be pleased to learn that Brazil's long-proclaimed oil law is inching along the country's corridors of power. Without it, there can be little progress regarding long-awaited permits in the presalt layer. But with the law, assuming it is perceived as fair to all, those permits will readily flow. Progress came last week when Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao said a proposal by Brazil's government to more-equitably distribute royalties from crude oil production "is sufficient to close a deal shortly." Lobao said the government's proposal made last week to reduce its take in oil royalties by 10% starting next year was "within the government's l...