Brazilian and Argentine presidents Lula da Silva and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner signed on Monday an agreement which officially launches the use of their countries currencies for bilateral trade instead of the US dollar.
This Wednesday an oil exploration platform is scheduled to arrive in the South Atlantic contracted by Argentine state energy company Enarsa, Chilean state oil company Enap Sipetrol international branch and Argentine oil major YPF.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries conference in Vienna opened on Tuesday with a strong call to address the free for all speculation in the energy sector and the vindication that throughout this turbulent period, supply and demand fundamentals have been sound.
Crude oil fell to a five-month low in New York and Brent oil in London dropped below 100 US dollars a barrel as traders remained confident that the OPEC meeting in Vienna would not decide to reduce production.
Brazil's Bovespa index fell 4.5% on Tuesday and the lowest level in a year as prices for top commodity exports slumped and Finance minister Guido Mantega predicted the currency will extend its steepest monthly decline since 2002.