petrobras now produces of all the deepwater oil on the planet, petrobras now produces one quarter of all the deepwater oil on the planet, and the country no longer has to import foreign oil. now the country's poised to develop new ultra-ultra deep fields some 200 miles offshore buried under nearly five miles of water, semi-hard salt and rock. the venture has been dubbed the pre-salt. but now, the b.p. spill prompts some to say caution is in order. >> this new accident-- it's an alert, a kind of yellow flag that we should take care and we should be very careful about the next step. >> reporter: segen estefen, professor at the federal university of rio de janeiro, oversees a research center testing new equipment for industry clients, including petrobras, to see if it can withstand pressures it will encounter at sea. >> it's a typical scenario for deep water exploration and production. >> reporter: that is much greater than back even at the b.p. horizon level. >> sure, because you know the control of the... the equipment here, it's more complicated. >> reporter: his testing devices incl