Oil prices dove below $30 a barrel on Friday, dragging major equity indices around the world sharply lower, as fears of a global slowdown amid a crude supply glut roiled markets and unsettled investors who snapped up gold and other safe-haven assets. Major stock indices in Europe and on Wall Street tumbled more than... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Petrobras cancels plan to sell local-market bonds
Jan 15, 2016 Reuters Brazil's state-led oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA said on Friday it had canceled plans to sell as much as 3 billion reais ($744 million) of local-market bonds after being unable to sell the debt at rates acceptable to both the company and investors. Petrobras, as the company is commonly known, had... Continue Reading →
Petrobras – Clarification on News: Sale of Braskem
01/14/2016 Rio de Janeiro, January 14, 2016 - Petróleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras hereby responds to Official Letter 91/2016-SAE, which requests the following clarifications: OFFICIAL LETTER No. 91/2016-SAE "Dear Sirs, A news article published at painel.blogfolha.uol.com.br, on January 13, 2016, states, among other information, that Petrobras is expected to announce, in the coming days, the sale... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s government sees higher rates sinking recovery -sources
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's left-leaning administration is worried a possible interest rate hike next week will foil its efforts to revive a battered economy while failing to curb inflation, government sources said on Thursday. The ruling Workers Party, unions and businesses are pressuring the central bank to keep its Selic rate BRCBMP=ECI unchanged to avoid... Continue Reading →
Brazil seeks deals with 10 companies in Petrobras scandal
The Brazilian comptroller general's office is negotiating leniency deals with 10 companies implicated in the Petrobras corruption scandal and expects them to be concluded within the next six months, its acting director said on Thursday. Carlos Higino, who took over last month, said agreements expected last year had been delayed by developments, including new criminal... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Petrobras says asset sale plan depends on many factors
Jan 14, 2016 Reuters Petróleo Brasileiro SA, the Brazilian state-controlled firm at the center of a massive corruption investigation, said asset divestments hinged on a number of undetermined "global and external factors", as regulators questioned it over the sale of a stake in petrochemical giant Braskem SA. In a securities filing on Thursday, Petrobras, as... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Rousseff signs amnesty to undeclared offshore assets
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday signed a bill that gives amnesty to holders of undeclared offshore assets in exchange for a fine, part of efforts to cut a swelling budget gap and revive investment in the recession-hit economy. The law offers amnesty from prosecution to Brazilians if they bring unreported foreign funds home... Continue Reading →
Ex Petrobras executive convicted in Rio of fraud, sentenced to jail
Jan 13, 2016 Reuters Jorge Zelada (C), former director of Petrobras' international division, is escorted by federal police officers as he arrives to the Institute of Forensic Science in Curitiba, Brazil, July 2, 2015. REUTERS/GABRIEL JOSE A judge in Rio de Janeiro convicted a former executive of Brazil's state-run oil firm Petrobras of fraud on... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Petrobras mulls sale of Braskem stake – newspaper
Brazil's state-controlled oil producer Petrobras is seeking to sell its 5.8 billion Brazilian real ($1.4 billion) stake in petrochemical producer Braskem SA, newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported on Wednesday. Petróleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has hired Brazilian bank Banco Bradesco SA as a financial adviser and has started to pitch the sale to foreign investors,... Continue Reading →
Here’s Why Brazil’s Inflation Won’t Hit Target Anytime Soon
Why does Brazil's inflation stay so stubbornly high despite even more interest-rate hikes in the horizon? The one-word answer is indexation. A vestige of the country's hyperinflation period in the 1990's, when annual price gains reached heights above 6,000 percent, indexation was meant to protect Brazilian companies and citizens from depreciating purchasing power by linking costs such as... Continue Reading →
Brazil Energy Insight 