Espionage can provide an advantage in mega-auctions.

247 Next Wednesday, US President Barack Obama will have a lot to explain to the Brazilian government. The deadline was set earlier after revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) used its espionage apparatus to intercept conversations between President Dilma Rousseff and her advisors.

"President Obama declared to me that he assumed direct and personal responsibility for the full clarification of the facts and that he would propose measures for Brazil's consideration to resolve the problem," the president said in a press conference at the G20 (read below in the Agência Brasil article).

Initially, the American government claimed that the system was used exclusively to combat terrorism. However, a report by Fantástico yesterday, in partnership with journalist Glenn Greenwald, based on documents leaked by former CIA agent Edward Snowden, currently exiled in Moscow, revealed that the scheme was also used to spy on companies like Petrobras.

The documents do not specify what type of information the NSA was seeking, but it is possible to assume that it had to do with technology and pre-salt oil fields.

Next month, the auction for the Libra field in the Santos Basin will take place, the largest ever held in the country. The total bonus to be paid by the winning consortium has been set at R$ 15 billion. According to Roberto Villa, former director of Petrobras, "if someone has this information, they will be in a much better position in the auction. They know where to bid higher and where not to bid at all. It's a good little secret."

Besides the Brazilian state-owned company, other victims of American espionage were Google, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Swift system — the cooperative that brings together more than ten thousand banks from 212 countries and regulates financial transactions via telecommunications.

Read the article from Agência Brasil about the case:

Petrobras says it will not comment on alleged espionage by the United States.

From Agência Brasil*
Brasilia Petrobras, through its press office, stated that it will not comment on the alleged espionage by the United States.
A report broadcast last night (8) by the program Fantástico, on TV Globo, says that documents, leaked by former IT consultant Edward Snowden, indicate that the private computer network of the Brazilian oil company was monitored by the United States National Security Agency (NSA). According to the report, it is not possible to know the extent of the monitoring, nor whether contents of the state-owned company were accessed.

Last week, the same program reported that the United States monitored conversations between President Dilma Rousseff and her close advisors. The Brazilian government demanded formal, written explanations from the United States.

On the 3rd of this month, the Minister of Communications, Paulo Bernardo, said that the responses presented by the Americans, up to that point, had "proven to be" false. In St. Petersburg, Russia, President Dilma Rousseff said that the President of the United States, Barack Obama, committed to taking direct responsibility for the investigation of allegations of espionage on her personal data, that of her advisors, and that of Brazilian citizens. The two met during the activities of the 8th G20 Summit.

The President of the United States, Barack Obama, has signaled a review of the procedures adopted by the NSA.

* Pedro Peduzzi contributed to this report.

Brazil is awaiting explanations from the US in the coming days regarding espionage.

Renata Giraldi
Reporter from Agência Brasil

Brasilia – In the coming days, the United States government is expected to provide clarifications to Brazil regarding the allegations of espionage against President Dilma Rousseff, advisors and Brazilian citizens. The expectation, according to Dilma, is that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, will speak by the 12th with the United States National Security Advisor, Susan Rice. The conversation between the two may take place in person, Figueiredo will be in New York from tomorrow (10) and should stay until Friday (13).

Last week in St. Petersburg, Russia, during the G20 summit, Dilma and the President of the United States, Barack Obama, discussed the unease caused by the espionage allegations. According to her, Obama promised to answer the questions submitted by the Brazilian government. The president stated that she will speak with Obama again if necessary.

"President Obama declared to me that he assumed direct and personal responsibility for the full clarification of the facts and that he would propose measures for Brazil's consideration to resolve the problem," the president said in a press conference.

“What I asked was this: 'I find it very complicated to learn about these things through the newspaper. I want to know: does it exist or not? Besides what has been published in the press, I want to know everything there is regarding Brazil. Everything, absolutely everything, in English: 'everything'.”

In the conversation, Dilma told Obama that she will propose initiatives to the United Nations (UN) and international entities in an attempt to prevent espionage and violations of individual and human rights. For more than a month, the Brazilian government has been requesting explanations from the United States regarding the allegations, triggered by information from Edward Snowden, who works for a service provider of the National Security Agency (NSA).

In the last two weeks, requests for information from the United States have been reinforced by the Ministers of Justice, José Eduardo Cardozo, and Figueiredo. Amidst the anticipation for this information, the president left open the possibility of traveling to Washington, D.C., on October 23rd, with the honors of a head of state.

“If there are no political conditions, obviously it won’t happen. I don’t intend to turn Wednesday [12] into ‘D-Day’. I intend to turn Wednesday [12] into an evaluation day. Don’t expect Wednesday to be ‘D-Day’,” said Dilma.

Edition: Adjutant Grace