China oil financing falls in Latin America

Beijing’s investment in the region is shifting from oil and other commodities to services

Latin America's commodities boom has faded, and with it has gone much of the Chinese oil financing that fuelled the good times. In the decade before the 2014 oil-price crash, Beijing pumped tens of billions of dollars into the region through oil-backed loans and direct investment in major oil and gas projects from its state-owned oil companies. Last year, the only major oil-related deal in the region from Beijing was a $5bn oil-backed loan from the China Development Bank to Brazil's Petrobras. The state-owned company has relied heavily on Chinese financing since the sprawling Carwash (Lavo Jato) corruption scandal made it more difficult and costly for Petrobras to access international capita