Brazil energy appeals to investors but many hurdles remain

Brazil’s expected rise as a major global energy supplier has been one of the biggest stories of the past decade. Although one of the most politically stable emerging market economies, doing business there is still fraught with difficulties. Alex Davis discusses the outlook for foreign involvement in the energy industry a year into president Rousseff’s administration

After decades in the wilderness, plagued by crippling inflation and inefficiency, Brazil has been manoeuvring itself over the last 15 years into a position arguably just behind China in terms of emerging markets appeal. As such, the resource-rich country now draws plenty of attention from foreign investors who see it as a more politically benign environment in which to operate than China or Russia.

With the discovery in 2007 of the massive pre-salt deep water oil reserves¹ in the Santos basin –