Lula return casts a cloud for Petrobras

Court case vindication could open the door to next year’s election, with implications for the NOC and wider energy reforms

Failure to successfully coordinate and distribute vaccines against the spread of a virulent new strain of Covid-19 has left Brazil in the throes of a national crisis, with a healthcare system on the brink of collapse and a fourth health minister in less than a year. And it could also yet usher in a stunning political return with significant implications for Petrobras. President Jair Bolsonaro’s efforts to discredit vaccines and fund unproven drugs have done little to claw back plunging approval ratings. And news that Bolsonaro’s archnemesis—and former president—Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva could also be free to run in next year’s election has only added to government anxieties. “If the ch