Mexico’s Pemex, battered by the oil price crash and on track to report its 11th consecutive quarterly loss on Tuesday, has found a way to improve its balance sheet. But its plan to bring in private equity funds to finance 15 offshore infrastructure projects and investments worth more than $7bn has landed it in an accounting Catch... Continue Reading →
Bloomberg – Oil Majors Delay U$200 Billion in Investments
Oil Majors Delay $200 Billion of Spending, Wood Mackenzie Says by Stephen Bierman July 27, 2015 — 7:28 AM BRT Global oil and natural-gas producers have delayed $200 billion of investment in more than 45 projects following the slump in crude prices, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd. The deferrals “create a substantial hole in the... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s biggest party sticks with unpopular Rousseff – for now
Brazil's largest party is standing by deeply unpopular President Dilma Rousseff for now despite the defection of one of its own leaders, but that could change if an expected recession stirs up social unrest, party leaders say. Rousseff is struggling to save her presidency amid the worst economic downturn in 25 years and a political... Continue Reading →
Bond Traders Problems Persist in Brazil
Bond investors in Brazil just can’t catch a break. After being burned by a bribery scandal at the country’s state-owned oil company, they were buffeted again last week when federal prosecutors probing Brazil’s national development bank said the lender lost out an estimated $2 billion by setting interest rates too low for risky borrowers. The... Continue Reading →
Oil Bear Market Punishes Petrobras Shares
The slide of crude into a bear market sank Petroleo Brasileiro SA, sending the Ibovespa to the longest rout since February 2013. Petrobras, the oil producer at the center of Brazil’s largest corruption scandal, extended a seven-day plunge to 17 percent. Crude traded in New York fell more than 20 percent from its June high... Continue Reading →
Milestones in Brazil’s Petrobras probe
Prosecutors and federal police in Brazil unearthed the country's largest-ever corruption scandal by tying a ring of black-market money changers to a price-fixing and political kickback scheme at state-run oil firm Petrobras. Executives from two dozen engineering firms are accused of inflating the value of service contracts and funneling the excess funds into their own... Continue Reading →
An Oil Scandal That is Shacking Brazil – Washington Post
There are times in Brazil’s young democracy -- its constitution dates from 1988 -- when the country seems to be making things up as it goes along. This is one of them. Read More
Brazil Real Tumbles Hard
SAO PAULO, July 24 Brazil's currency, the real, plunged to its weakest level in 12 years on Friday as investors continued to digest the government's recent announcement that it would slash its fiscal savings goals. Currencies daily % YTD % Brazil real 3.3500 -1.63 -20.87 Mexico peso 16.225 -0.10 -9.13 Chile peso 660.9 -0.74 -8.25... Continue Reading →
Brazil to Charge Odebrecht CEO
Brazilian prosecutors will present formal charges Friday against the chief executive of Latin America's largest engineering firm and other senior executives detained last month in a landmark investigation meant to show the country's elite are not above the law. Marcelo Odebrecht, the third-generation chief executive of the family-run Brazilian conglomerate, could face charges of corruption... Continue Reading →
Currency Drop Sparks Race to Cut Brazil Forecasts
The Brazilian real’s 4.5 percent tumble this week, the most among major currencies worldwide, has forecasters reviewing estimates after the government said it won’t meet fiscal targets. The real touched a 12-year low Friday, falling faster and farther than economists had predicted, after Finance Minister Joaquim Levy asked lawmakers to cut a key budget goal.... Continue Reading →