Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, has started to buy and lease equipment to be used in the country's pre-salt oil fields, O Globo said, without saying where it got the information.

Petrobras is closing contracts to buy and lease drill rigs, boats and offshore oil rigs, Globo said.

The company wants to get a head start over its competitors Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, StatoilHydro ASA, BP Plc and Total SA, the newspaper said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anabela Reis in Lisbon at areis1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 22, 2008 05:19 EDT