The company received more than enough investor interest to sell all of the shares in the massive issue, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Wednesday, paving the way for a successful deal.

The many hurdles that haunted the deal this year sparked a domestic stock market overhang and led to a drop of $70 billion-plus in Petrobras’ market value. The offering will help raise funds the company needs to pay for the world’s largest oil exploration plan — which aims to turn Brazil into a global energy powerhouse.

“Remove all the elements of uncertainty and markets will feel lighter, so a successful pricing of the deal will be good for everyone,” said Jorge Simino, who oversees $10 billion in assets for Sao Paulo-based pension fund Funcesp.

Brazil’s government will use oil reserves to buy $43 billion in new Petrobras stock, while minority shareholders including institutional investors and state pension funds will pay cash for as much as $36 billion in shares.

That barter will give Petrobras 5 billion barrels of oil in one of the world’s most promising energy prospects — the deep waters off Brazil’s southern coast that are believed to hold more than 50 billion barrels of crude.

Some analysts had complained that transaction, which lets the government participate in the share offering without paying cash, was dilutive to private shareholders because the price of the oil to be used in the exchange was too high.

Those concerns appear to have given way as investors focus on the company’s access to the vast reserves and near monopoly on Brazil’s fast-growing fuel markets.

Petrobras preferred shares (PETR4.SA), the firm’s most widely traded class of stock, jumped as much as 4.6 percent in morning trading, before paring gains.

The company said its board will hold an extraordinary meeting at 7:00 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) in Sao Paulo to vote on the final pricing for the offer.

If successful, the deal will easily top Japanese telecommunications firm NTT’s (9432.T) $36.8 billion 1987 share sale and Agricultural Bank of China’s (601288.SS) $22.1 billion initial public offering earlier this year.

That would thrust Brazil, a growing economic and diplomatic power, to the forefront of global capital markets at a time when the finance industry is still struggling to fully recover from the worst crisis since the 1930s.

Investors are exiting industrialized economies and flocking to emerging markets like Brazil, where a combination of newfound financial stability and a wealth of natural resources are offering sizzling returns.

Two of the world’s largest initial public offerings took place in Brazil last year, and a fresh wave of initial public offerings and share sales is expected to follow in the wake of the Petrobras deal.

The Petrobras offer, and a planned overhaul of Brazil’s oil legislation to give the government greater control over the country’s vast new reserves, are high on the political agenda as Brazilians prepare to vote for a new president on October 3.

The hugely popular President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who leaves office on January 1, has personally campaigned in favor of the offering with an eye on capitalizing Petrobras, whose growing stature is a source of pride for many Brazilians.

“All of my political life they’ve been calling me a socialist, and now I’m going to do the biggest capitalization that the capitalist world has ever seen,” Lula said Tuesday.

Petrobras last week expanded the offer, a sign investors are less concerned with increased state meddling in the company’s affairs. The government, which holds the majority of voting capital, wants to boost its share in Petrobras’ total capital to 40 percent from 32 percent currently.

The offering will provide Petrobras with cash for its $224 billion, five-year investment program, a cornerstone of Lula’s crusade to make Brazil a major exporter of oil and fuels.

It will also ease concerns that management could burn through cash and borrow heavily to pay for investments.

The company’s bonds plunged this year, and credit risk perception deteriorated as investors fretted that much of the investment plans were slated for refining projects that create jobs but fewer benefits for shareholders.

Some analysts estimate that, regardless of the result of the offering, Petrobras will end up borrowing up to $60 billion in bonds and loans to pay for the massive capex plan.

The company earlier this month filed to sell 1.59 billion new preferred shares and 2.17 billion new common shares (PETR3.SA) — figures that do not include a “greenshoe” option that would expand the offer on extraordinary demand.

At Wednesday’s closing prices, the sale of those shares could fetch 106 billion reais ($61.5 billion).

Petrobras then doubled the “greenshoe” option, to an extra 20 percent — up from 10 percent.

Banco Bradesco BBI, the investment banking arm of Banco Bradesco, is the lead manager of the offering. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Santander, Morgan Stanley and Itau BBA, the wholesale banking arm of Itau Unibanco, will act as global bookrunners of the deal.