Oil, gas, electricity, energy transition and the infrastructure behind Brazil’s energy system.
← Back to topicOn November 8, 2007, Petrobras announced the Tupi discovery in Brazil’s pre-salt province, estimating 5 billion to 8 billion barrels of oil equivalent in recoverable light oil and natural gas. The estimate was preliminary, but the discovery became a landmark in the country’s offshore energy history.
Brazil’s Federal Police launched the first overt phase of Operation Lava Jato on March 17, 2014. Initially focused on suspected money laundering and illegal foreign-exchange activity, the inquiry later expanded into allegations involving Petrobras, major contractors and political figures. Its legacy remains significant, but legal outcomes varied case by case.
Operation Lava Jato, known internationally as Car Wash, became one of Brazil’s most consequential anti-corruption investigations. Its record includes major corporate settlements and compliance commitments, but also later Supreme Court rulings that annulled specific proceedings and excluded a category of Odebrecht-derived evidence.
Eletrobras’ 2022 capitalization reduced the federal government’s stake from 61.69% to 36.99%, ending its majority ownership. The transaction did not remove the state from Brazil’s wider power sector: Itaipu-related interests and nuclear operator Eletronuclear remained under federal control.
Brazil has created Redata, a special tax regime for data-center projects that covers cloud computing, high-performance computing and artificial-intelligence workloads while imposing local-market and sustainability requirements on beneficiaries.
Date shown is the publication date because no separate historical event date is stored.Brazil’s new critical-minerals policy establishes a council to set priorities and a suite of financing and traceability tools. Its practical reach will depend on regulations still to be issued.
Date shown is the publication date because no separate historical event date is stored.