Brazil

• Friday, October 16th 2015 - 07:35 UTC

  Petrobras strikes further discovery at giant pre-salt Libra field in Santos basin

  

  Petrobras announced a further hydrocarbon discovery at the giant pre-salt Libra field in the Santos basin, offshore Brazil. The company said that well 3-BRSA-1310-RJS, in the central portion of the block, identified the presence of hydrocarbons in a low-porosity reservoir. This is the fourth well drilled in the Libra area since exploratory drilling began last August.

• Thursday, October 15th 2015 - 07:27 UTC

  Rousseff accused the opposition of a 'deliberate coup-mongering'

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has accused her opponents of trying to overthrow a democratically elected government by seeking to oust her without any material facts while spreading hatred and intolerance across the country.

• Wednesday, October 14th 2015 - 08:01 UTC

  China to the rescue of cash strapped Petrobras with $2bn for a 10-year lease of two platforms

  

  Brazil's state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA will raise $2 billion through a 10-year leasing contract with China's Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Leasing, the Brazilian company said in a statement on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, October 14th 2015 - 07:37 UTC

  Brazil's Supreme Court gives Rousseff a break in her battle to avoid impeachment

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff won a temporary reprieve on Tuesday from threatened impeachment thanks to a Supreme Court intervention and her principal opponent's decision to hold off for now on opening proceedings.

• Tuesday, October 13th 2015 - 07:13 UTC

  Pacific Alliance members outstand in Latin American performance, says IMF

  

  Brazil is still by far the largest economy in Latin America despite its recession and the impact of the devaluation of the Real, according to the latest report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which said Venezuela dropped to the position of the region’s seventh-largest economy with a GDP that’s now half the size of Colombia’s.

• Monday, October 12th 2015 - 06:19 UTC

  “Under no condition, I might resign” says Brazil's Lower House speaker

  

  The speaker of Brazil's lower house of Congress ruled out resigning in response to pressure from colleagues over allegations that he took bribes and stashed the money in Swiss bank accounts.

• Monday, October 12th 2015 - 06:16 UTC

  Petrobras corruption scandal could reach US$ 5.3bn: “we've only seen the tip of the iceberg”

  

  Damage from the gargantuan corruption scandal centered on Brazilian state oil company Petrobras could amount to as much as 20 billion Reais ($5.3 billion), a lead prosecutor revealed last week.

• Monday, October 12th 2015 - 06:14 UTC

  Levy confident congress will finally approve austerity measures to help Brazil's economy

  

  The president Dilma Rousseff administration is geared to “preparing the country to deal with a new international reality”, Brazilian Finance Minister Joaquim Levy told Reuters in an interview on Saturday.

• Saturday, October 10th 2015 - 07:11 UTC

  Opposition will push for impeachment proceedings against Rousseff next week

  

  Brazil opposition lawmakers will push for impeachment proceedings to begin next week against embattled President Dilma Rousseff, local media reported Friday. It comes after the country’s top audit court, the TCU, ruled that the government’s 2014 accounts had been manipulated in the run-up to last year’s presidential elections to give a better impression of the economy and sustain spending on social programs.

• Thursday, October 8th 2015 - 18:51 UTC

  Brazilian congress again exposes President Rousseff's political weakness

  

  Brazil's Congress on Wednesday postponed for a fourth time voting on whether to overrule President Dilma Rousseff's vetoes of two spending bills in a defeat for her government as it scrambles for support to rebalance overdrawn public accounts.