Energy & Oil
Energy & Oil feedPetrobras testing discovery of “huge” natural gas reserves in Peru’s Amazon
Brazil’s Petrobras said on Friday it is still studying drilling results from lot 58 in Peru’s Amazon and has yet to estimate natural gas deposits there, a day after Peruvian President Alan Garcia said the company struck a large find.
Petrobras receives Chinese financing to develop sub-salt oil resources
Brazil’s government managed oil and gas group Petrobras announced Wednesday it had signed a contract permitting the first payment from a 10 billion US dollar loan from China to help it finance upcoming investments.
Chinese company buys oil assets in the US for the first time
Chinese energy giant China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has bought oil assets in the US for the first time. CNOOC purchased limited stakes in four deepwater exploitation licences in the Gulf of Mexico from Norway’s Statoil. The size of the deal is secret, but Statoil said it was small.
Iraq signs oil development agreements with Britain, China and Italy
Iraq’s oil ministry has signed an initial agreement with a consortium led by the Italian firm, ENI, to develop the Zubair oilfield in southern Iraq. The deal which needs cabinet approval calls for the group to extract 200,000 barrels of oil a day, rising to 1.1 million a day within seven years.
Massive oil spill from Australian underwater well; top brains unable to plug leak
An oil well at the centre of a massive spill in the Timor Sea off the North West coast of Australia is on fire. The company which runs the well, PTTEP Australasia, said the fire broke out as it made another attempt to plug a leak deep underwater at the West Atlas rig.
Venezuela/Brazil agree terms of refinery to be built in Pernambuco
Brazil’s government managed oil company Petrobras said on Friday that it had concluded a deal with Venezuela’s PDVSA to construct and operate a refinery in northeast Brazil.
Featured Analysis
Cuba’s Sugarcane Ethanol Potential: the Return of King Sugar
“Central America and the Caribbean, historical sugar-producing economies where the sugar-ethanol infrastructure already has a foundation, labor costs are low, and the political conditions are more or less stable– offers the best near-term potential for large-scale sugarcane ethanol production. This is a market opportunity which Cuba, with the longest experience of sugar–ethanol and sugarcane derivates production in the region, is positioned to take advantage of”.
Shell reports sharp fall in quarterly profit with outlook “very uncertain”
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell reported Thursday its quarterly profit fell sharply, and warns the outlook remains “very uncertain”. The company said profit for the three months to September fell 73% to 3 billion US dollars from a year earlier. “We are not expecting a quick recovery,“ Shell chief executive Peter Voser said.
UK petrol prices at their highest level of the year
Petrol prices in the United Kingdom are now at their highest level of the year, according to the AA. Average UK prices at the pumps are now 107.14p a litre - beating the previous 2009 high of 107.03p a litre on September 9.
ING group to split banking and life insurance operations
Dutch ING Group on Monday announced that it will move towards a complete separation of its banking and life insurance operations. ING which was bailed out by the Dutch government said it would dispose of its insurance operations over the next four years and raising 7.5 billion Euros in a rights issue.
