Brazil'sCongress has a short list of priorities for legislation during the rest of this year, with the most pressing being approval of a law changing the distribution of royalties from oil production.

The goal is to give more money from new wells to nonoil-producing states. Producing states oppose cuts in their share, saying they face more environmental risk and, therefore, deserve more money.

Brazil plans to hold a much-delayed 11th bidding round for new oil and natural gas concessions in May, and the first auction of licenses for production in the so-called subsalt area later in 2013. For either to proceed, Congress must first pass the royalties legislation.

The administration of President Dilma Rousseff has pledged to give up part of the federal government's share of royalties in order to give more to the nonproducing states. The president is lobbying hard for approval of the bill, said aides from both side of the aisle.

"It's the intention of the government to vote on this bill by the end of the year," said a spokesman for the president. "If that doesn't happen, there's no problem voting it the first half of next year. We know that this is a controversial subject, be we feel that the conditions exist to move ahead on it."

Congressional aides were wary of predicting approval by the end of the year.

"The government's floor leader has said we'll have to work hard to get the royalties bill passed," cautioned an aide from a pro-government party. "There are still a lot of differences on what the distribution should be."

Aides from opposition parties agreed, and neither side would predict what the final formula for royalties distribution might be.

Other priorities for the rest of the year include a bill that would change how the government distributes money to political parties and to officials who switch parties after being elected. The effect of the proposal would be to discourage party-switching. Aides on both sides said the bill has a good chance of approval.

Meanwhile, Congress faces some stiff deadlines. Both houses must approve the 2013 federal budget by Dec. 31.

Both houses must also vote on a new formula for distributing tax revenues to the states following a Supreme Court ruling that declared the previous formula unconstitutional. Congressional aides said Congress may find a way to extend the deadline for deciding the state funding issue.

Congress must also act quickly to approve a government move changing Brazil's system for awarding electric power generation concessions. Both sides expect that bill to pass without problems, although stripped of the more than 400 amendments that have been attached to it.

There are various other legislative initiatives that could make it onto the congressional agenda for the rest of 2012, although with reduced chances of passage, aides said.

A raft of proposals would tweak Brazil's pension system, recalculating some benefits. Others would change labor laws in efforts to reduce business costs.

All would involve the expenditure of political capital, budget resources or both.

"We don't see much willingness on the part of the government to move forward on some of these," said one congressional aide. "This government would rather stay popular, and not spend the extra money."