Brazil’s oil auction this week will test whether a raft of market-friendly reforms under President Michel Temer can tempt investors back to a sector tarnished by a corruption scandal at state-controlled oil firm Petróleo Brasileiro SA. Brazil will auction 287 onshore and offshore exploration blocks on Wednesday, raking in at least 1.69 billion reais ($537 million) if all are assigned. Wednesday’s auction is Brazil’s fourteenth round for blocks outside of the coveted pre-salt area and should gauge appetite for the country’s second and third pre-salt rounds next month. Thirty-two companies will vie for the blocks this weeks, including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp, Repsol, Total SA, Rosneft, CNOOC and Brazil’s state oil firm, known as Petrobras. The auction […]