🛢️ Drill deal?

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Good morning! The day started with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva poking his US counterpart, Donald Trump. Lula described Trump’s willingness to seize control of Gaza and displace the Palestinian population as something “practically incomprehensible.” He added that the US has participated in the “Gaza genocide” and that Palestinians should control the area.

Will Alcolumbre push Amazon oil drilling over the line?

In Monday’s Brazil Daily newsletter, we explained that the election of Davi Alcolumbre as the new Senate president could spell uncertainty for the Lula government — and potentially bolster the Liberal Party of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro.

• But while the political landscape and arrangement of forces brought about by Alcolumbre’s election are not yet set in stone, more tangible effects of his return to the president’s chair are already visible — one of which concerns oil drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River.

Bottom line. President Lula met with the Senate president and new House Speaker Hugo Motta on Monday morning — and Alcolumbre was given guarantees that a project to drill for oil in Brazil’s Equatorial Margin region would go ahead imminently.

Where? The Equatorial Margin is an area near Brazil’s northern and northeastern coast believed to be home to abundant offshore oil reserves. It is one of the world’s most attractive new oil frontiers, with discoveries in neighboring Guyana transforming that country’s economy.

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