Brazil-U.S. tension escalates on reported U.S. spying on Petrobras

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Brazil-U.S. tension escalates on reported U.S. spying on Petrobras

(Xinhua) 08:08, September 10, 2013

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 9 -- The relationship between Brazil and the United States strained again on Monday after reports surfaced that Brazil's state oil and gas giant Petrobras was a prime target of U.S. government spying activity.

The latest revelations were aired Sunday night on TV news show "Fantastico", which revealed a week earlier that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) spied on the private communications of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, who was in Geneva for a meeting, reportedly left the city in a hurry earlier Monday and headed to Washington D.C., where he is expected to meet with U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

The spying on Petrobras concerns Brazil a lot because of its newly discovered off-shore oil reserves.

Petrobras, which made the discovery and mapped the reserves, is the world's leading expert in deep-water oil exploration, with its knowledge of the field worth a fortune. In October, Brazil is set to open the bidding on its Libra oilfield, estimated to have reserves of 15 billion barrels of oil, doubling Brazil's current known reserves.

Petrobras' former director Roberto Villa said in an interview Sunday that if data collected by Petrobras was leaked to one or more companies, those firms would have an illegal advantage in the bidding process.

The leaked documents do not show the extent of the espionage, or even whether the NSA was successful in stealing information from Petrobras.

Early Monday, Petrobras'former CEO Jose Sergio Gabrielli, who stepped down last year, said the company has been the target of several data hacking attempts, but its servers are "very well protected."

Sunday's revelations, based on documents leaked by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, said NSA workers attended presentations that detailed the agency's surveillance of several major companies around the world, including Petrobras.

The documents contradict Washington's previous claims that its global surveillance scheme is exclusively designed to combat terrorism, as the snooping looks more like industrial espionage.

In response, the NSA made a statement denying it spies on Petrobras' or any other companies'trade secrets, but failed to explain why the company's name appears in the documents.

Last week, Rousseff talked with U.S. President Barack Obama at a G20 meeting hosted by Russia, and said Obama promised to present a full explanation on the matter by Wednesday.

However, the news that Petrobras was targeted may add to the complexity of the issue.

Rousseff, who canceled a scheduled trip by her advance team last week, indicated she may scrap an official visit to the United States, scheduled for October, unless Washington offers a satisfactory explanation.

The spying scandal may also impact Brazil's acquisition of 36 fighter jets from the United States.