Brazil’s central bank increased its forecast for this year’s current account gap as a stronger currency weighs on the country’s trade surplus and the economy begins to recover. The deficit in the current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, was forecast at $18 billion this year, wider than the $15 billion gap... Continue Reading →

Brazilian police arrested Antonio Palocci Filho, who served as finance minister and chief of staff under former presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, as part of the so-called Carwash probe that has shaken the country’s business and political elite. Prosecutors said in a statement there is evidence that Palocci interfered in decisions taken by... Continue Reading →

Maersk Oil may well survive as an independent oil company after being split off from its larger parent. While assets that include a stake in the giant Johan Sverdrup project off Norway will draw suitors, listing the company would make sense, analysts said. AP Moeller Maersk A/S, Denmark’s 112-year-old shipping and energy conglomerate, said Thursday... Continue Reading →

Brazil’s former finance minister Guido Mantega was arrested by federal police on Thursday as part of the ongoing corruption probe known as Carwash, GloboNews reported. A statement issued by federal prosecutors said that police was targeting one former minister, as well as executives from construction companies Mendes Junior Engenharia SA and OSX Construcao Naval SA.... Continue Reading →

Petroleos de Venezuela SA is getting ready to start what it’s dubbed “one of the world’s largest drilling projects” in the Orinoco heavy crude belt with investment totaling $3.2 billion even as its president, Eulogio Del Pino, says the global oil market is oversupplied. “The project involves contracting integrated services for platform construction, drilling, completion... Continue Reading →

Canada's Brookfield Asset Management Inc is close to finalizing the purchase of Brazilian engineering conglomerate Odebrecht SA's stake in a water and sewage firm after due diligence procedures slowed the transaction for months, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Brookfield (BAMa.TO) has agreed to buy the 70 percent that Odebrecht SA has... Continue Reading →

Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will stand trial on corruption charges, a crusading federal judge ruled on Tuesday, adding more turbulence to the country's chaotic political landscape. Judge Sergio Moro said that Lula, who served as president from 2003-11 and has been an iconic and powerful political force in Brazil for two... Continue Reading →

Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA said on Tuesday it will exit the biofuels sector, as the heavily indebted company seeks to prioritize investment in crude oil and gas production. Petrobras, as the company is known, said biofuels would be one sector it plans to unload as part of sweeping asset sales plan. The... Continue Reading →