(Recasts; Adds minister comments and context)
By Maria Carolina Marcello and Jeb Blount
BRASILIA/RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Brazil's Senateon Wednesday passed a bill that reduces Petrobras control oversome of the country's most promising offshore oil resources, inan attempt to kick start the country's oil industry hammered bylow oil prices and a corruption scandal at the state-run oilcompany.
The Senate passed the bill, 40-26, ending a requirement thatPetroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known,operate all new developments in an offshore region known as theSubsalt Poligon and provide at least 30 percent of investment.
If passed by the lower house of Congress and President DilmaRousseff, the bill will overturn parts of a 2010 law seeking toincrease government control of giant new offshore oil and gasresources.
The 2010 law has been criticized for limiting foreigninvestment in the Poligon, a region off Brazil's coast near Riode Janeiro where large resources lie far beneath the seabed by alayer of mineral salts.
Petrobras, the world's most indebted oil company, has saidit may not have the financial strength to finance exploration ofsuch areas, putting at risk oil development and the billions inroyalties the government wants.
"The only way to get the industry working again quickly isto pass this law," said Aluizio dos Santos, Mayor of Macaé,Brazil, the key offshore base for development of Brazil'soffshore Campos Basin. His city has seen thousands of layoffs asPetrobras activity slows and oil prices fall.
"The requirement that Petrobras is the only operator andminimum 30 percent financial operator has turned the promise ofoffshore subsalt oil into a curse," he said.
Petrobras did not immediately respond to an email requestfor comment.
Although previously against the legislation, Rousseff easedher opposition in recent weeks as Petrobras finances continuedto reel from a corruption investigation and dwindling oilprices.
Senators of Rousseff's Workers Party complained thegovernment abandoned them in their vote against the bill.
"The government changed its position... we feel abandoned inthis issue that we consider strategic," said Senator LindberghFarias, one of the fiercest critics of the bill.
The bill still faces a tough battle in the lower house withthe Workers' Party and other leftist lawmakers opposing openingup the region to more private investment.
Reflecting the conflicting views inside the administration,the government's cabinet minister in charge of legislativeaffairs, Ricardo Berzoini, said he opposed the changes.
"This is not the time to change those rules. We believe thatcurrent oil prices and market volatility should not lead tochanges now," Berzoini told Reuters earlier on Wednesday. (Writing by Alonso Soto; Editing by Sandra Maler, Bernard Orr)
