Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry has canceled nine licenses to build transmission lines that had been granted to Spain’s Abengoa SA after the company abandoned construction works in 2015, a senior official said on Wednesday. The decision formalizing cancellation of the licenses was published in the Wednesday edition of the official gazette, Reuters reported. The cancellation will not exempt the company from paying legal fines related to projects, according to the decision. The company did not have an immediate comment on the cancellation of the licenses.

One of the largest holders of Venezuelan bonds says U.S. sanctions are giving Nicolas Maduro’s government greater incentive to pay its debts. The penalties imposed late last month restrict the country’s ability to restructure its obligations, meaning the president’s only option is to keep scraping up enough cash to keep current on overseas notes, Bloomberg News reported.

Venezuela has asked Moscow to restructure the country’s debt, Russia’s finance minister has said, in a sign of the country’s deepening financial distress, the Financial Times reported. Russia has become a critical lender to the crisis-wracked country, through state loans and financial assistance by state oil producer Rosneft to Venezuela’s PdVSA. “There was a request from our colleagues in Venezuela to carry out a restructuring,” said Anton Siluanov.

For years, investors in Venezuela and its state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, took comfort knowing that in the event of a default, there’d be assets they could potentially seize to recoup some of their losses, Bloomberg News reported. But for bond buyers with an even bigger appetite for risk, those willing to throw themselves at the mercy of President Nicolas Maduro’s survival and track record of making good on debt payments, there’s another option: Electricidad de Caracas, the state-run electric utility.

A move by Brazil’s telecommunications industry watchdog to analyze whether to remove Oi SA’s operating license will further complicate Latin America’s largest-ever bankruptcy protection case, now in its 15th month, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The person, who asked for anonymity to discuss the issue freely, said Thursday’s announcement by regulator Anatel was “surprising,” given that a vote on Oi’s in-court reorganization plan was scheduled for Oct. 9, Reuters reported. Talks between shareholders and creditors are “going well,” the person added.

Venezuela’s dollar bonds are testing all time lows as President Nicolas Maduro plots how to respond to new U.S. sanctions and revive an economy in shambles. The country’s $4 billion of benchmark notes due in 2027 declined 4.6 percent in August to 39.65 cents on the dollar, just 7 cents away from the record low of 32.45 cents on the dollar seen in February 2016, Bloomberg News reported. State oil company PDVSA’s $3 billion of notes due in 2035 declined 5.8 percent in August to 35.3 cents on the dollar, only 6.2 cents above the record low.

U.S. sanctions imposed on Venezuela last week put limits on new debt from the country. But the Treasury Department’s move is having broader consequences in the bond market, where brokers taking a cautious stance are limiting trades in existing notes. Depository Trust Company, a custodian for more than $35 trillion of securities, temporarily put a block on services for Venezuelan bond trades, and some dealers have also stopped buying and selling the debt.

The world’s riskiest credit continued its downward spiral after Fitch Ratings lowered Venezuela’s grade deeper into junk, saying additional U.S. sanctions increase the probability of non-payment. Fitch reduced the nation’s long-term foreign and local currency ratings to CC, just two notches from default, from CCC on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported. S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service also rank the country at speculative levels.

A stalled solar-thermal project in northern Chile backed by a U.S. private equity investor is seeking about $800 million in debt to resume construction, according to people familiar with the deal, Bloomberg News reported. EIG Global Energy Partners, the U.S. private equity investor that took over the $1 billion Cerro Dominador solar plant last year, has received interest from “several international banks,” Fernando Gonzalez, the project’s chief executive officer, said in an email Monday. He started pursuing project-finance debt about three weeks ago, and declined to say how much he’s seeking.

Michel Temer is the most unpopular president in the democratic history of Brazil. He presides over an economy only just coming out of its worst-ever recession. He also faces corruption allegations and could be impeached. Yet markets are unfazed, the Financial Times reported. Since he came to office one year ago Mr Temer has followed through on pledges to stabilise the economy, and the stock market has risen by a half. An ambitious $14bn privatisation programme, including the sale of Electrobras, the utility, has now raised investor spirits further.