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Angola’s state-owned oil company agreed to acquire Cobalt International Energy Inc.’s 40 percent interest in discoveries off the nation’s coast for $1.75 billion. Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola, known as Sonangol, expects to receive government approval for the purchase of the stakes in blocks 21/09 and 20/11 before the end of the year, according... Continue Reading →
Brazil's government announced on Monday it will slash the number of ministries and reduce its spending, in an effort to show commitment to austerity that could be politically costly for President Dilma Rousseff. Planning Minister Nelson Barbosa said the administrative overhaul aims to make the state more efficient, but did not specify how much the... Continue Reading →
A Brazilian electoral court judge has requested a probe into President Dilma Rousseff’s 2014 campaign financing on signs it may have included money siphoned from state-owned oil company Petrobras. Judge Gilmar Mendes said in his request to prosecutors and federal police that there are indications Rousseff’s Workers’ Party was indirectly financed by Petrobras, which is... Continue Reading →
The real plunged to a 12-year low, leading losses for Latin American currencies amid a global rout spurred by concern that the economic slowdown is worsening in China, Brazil’s largest trading partner. An index of the region’s currencies fell to the lowest since at least 1992, while Chile’s peso sank to the weakest in 12... Continue Reading →
Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer, a key ally of embattled President Dilma Rousseff, might end his role managing her unwieldy coalition in Congress but he is not planning to leave her government, members of his party said on Friday. "The vice president has not taken any decision on quitting the political liaison role," a spokesman... Continue Reading →
The price of oil in the U.S. tumbled below $40 a barrel Friday for the first time since 2009 amid a growing consensus that cheap oil is here to stay. Oil investors and forecasters, who predicted early in the year that prices would recover in the second half of 2015, now say a rebound is... Continue Reading →
Brazil has seen politicians accused of corruption leave and re-enter politics time and again. But Thursday’s charges against lawmakers for allegedly pocketing bribes as part of a graft ring at Brazil’s state-run oil company contained the name of the most famous comeback kid of them all: former President Fernando Collor de Mello. Mr. Collor de... Continue Reading →
An ongoing political and economic crisis once more threatens to fell the tallest tree in Brazil's political landscape: former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. His once-sterling legacy, previously tarnished by a Congressional vote-buying scandal, is being sullied further by economic and political turmoil that has driven approval ratings for his hand-picked successor into single... Continue Reading →
The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, the nation's largest, is preparing to leave President Dilma Rousseff's administration after disagreements over handling an ongoing political crisis, Valor Econômico newspaper said on Friday. The newspaper, which did not say how it obtained the information, said the party known as PMDB would take a first step in that direction... Continue Reading →
Engulfed by political and economic crises, Brazil can ill-afford to be beset by more problems. Yet that’s exactly what is happening after its southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul defaulted on a 280 million real ($80.9 million) payment to the federal government this month -- the first since the nation’s municipal-debt meltdown in 1997.... Continue Reading →
Brazil Energy Insight 