Link's memorandum is a group of three letters written by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 oil geologist Walter K. Link

Walter K. Link

-Career:In 1926, Walter Link went to work for the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey as a junior geologist mapping deposits in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. His work for Standard Oil then took him to Indonesia, Ada, Oklahoma, and the American Gulf Coast...

 after accepting an invitation to establish an onshore exploration program in 1954, for Petrobras

Petrobras

Petróleo Brasileiro or Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest company in Latin America by market capitalization and revenue, and the largest company headquartered in the Southern Hemisphere by market...

, the Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian petroleum monopoly. After having completed his six-year contract, his detailed evaluation recommended that Petrobras look offshore instead. This recommendation did not go well with either Petrobras, or the local press, in which he was "vilified mercilessly as the messenger with bad news"

After ignoring Walter advice for the following seven years, Petrobras finally did accept, and act upon, the recommendation.