While the investigations of Brazil’s Public Prosecution Service continue to look into construction and engineering companies involved in kickbacks to politicians and officials in exchange for contracts with one of the country’s largest owners, Petrobras, industry experts say the scandal may soon open up new opportunities for contractors as others are blacklisted from future work.
"We have a good amount of medium-sized engineering companies here, and they may gradually occupy these empty spaces,” says Luiz Fernando dos Reis Santos, CEO of the Association of Rio de Janeiro of Engineering Companies (AEERJ). "The biggest problem I see, perhaps more complex, is in the segment of mechanical contractors.”