Brazil watches the polls

The South American country will choose a new president in 2018, with major ramifications for the oil industry

Presidential politics will top the agenda for energy investors in Brazil in 2018. After one of the most tumultuous periods in the country's history, marked by an economic crisis and an epic corruption scandal that forced a president from office and saw dozens of politicians and business executives jailed, weary Brazilians will elect a new president in October. A raft of market-friendly energy reforms pushed through by president Michel Temer are at stake. The pre-salt, one of the global oil industry's major prizes, has been opened to international oil company control for the first time. Stiff local-content rules, blamed for helping to drive delays and lift costs on deep-water projects, have b