Energy & Oil

• Thursday, May 16th 2013 - 07:10 UTC

  Argentina challenges EU bio-diesel import restriction rules before WTO

  

  Argentina has launched a challenge at the World Trade Organization against European Union rules for importing and marketing bio-diesel, the WTO said.

• Thursday, May 16th 2013 - 03:24 UTC

  Chevron agrees to invest 1.5bn dollars in developing YPF shale field in Patagonia

  

  Argentina’s nationalized oil company YPF signed on Wednesday an agreement with US oil major Chevron Corp to define the terms and conditions of Chevron's investment of 1.5 billion dollars in the vast Vaca Muerta shale field.

• Wednesday, May 15th 2013 - 21:59 UTC

  Paraguay on Independence Day blasts Argentina and Brazil over “power resource exploitation”

  

  President Federico Franco said Paraguay has long cancelled its debts for the construction of two huge shared hydroelectric dams with its powerful neighbours and demanded Argentina pay for the surplus energy it receives and compensation for flooding Paraguayan territory.

• Wednesday, May 15th 2013 - 17:26 UTC

  North American oil production surge forecasted to transform world market in next five years

  

  The supply shock created by a surge in North American oil production will be as transformative to the market over the next five years as was the rise of Chinese demand over the last 15, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its annual Medium-Term Oil Market Report (MTOMR) released this week.

• Wednesday, May 15th 2013 - 07:29 UTC

  Spain no longer discusses Argentina’s ‘sovereign decision to seek energy sector control”

  

  Spain’s Foreign Affairs Minister José Manuel García Margallo said the Spanish government is no longer “discussing” Argentina’s “sovereign decision to seek energy sectors’ control.” “It could seem to me a mistake, but it is the responsibility” of the Argentine government, García Margallo stated.

• Wednesday, May 15th 2013 - 07:24 UTC

  Uruguay awards French company contract for 1.2bn dollars re-gasification plant

  

  Uruguay awarded French gas and power group GDF Suez SA a contract to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) re-gasification plant at an estimated cost of 1.125 billion dollars, the government said on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, May 15th 2013 - 06:50 UTC

  BP and Total win exploration rights in virgin waters of Brazil’s Amazon basin

  

  BP and Total, Europe’s biggest oil companies after Shell, won exploration rights in the Amazon basin as Brazil’s first oil auction in five years attracts a record level of bids. Total, based in Paris, gained exploration access to operate five blocks at the Foz do Amazonas basin in northern Brazil together with partners BP and Petrobras, the oil regulator said on Tuesday.

• Tuesday, May 14th 2013 - 23:13 UTC

  Venezuela net importer of gasoline in 2012 because of Amuay refinery fire

  

  Venezuela in 2012 became a net importer of gasoline as a result of escalating problems at its refineries and increasing demand for fuel in its internal market, joining a growing list of countries that struggle with fuel supplies despite ample oil reserves.

• Tuesday, May 14th 2013 - 06:36 UTC

  Petrobras completes record bond offering and collects 11 billion dollars

  

  Brazil’s state-controlled oil firm Petrobras sold 11 billion dollars of global debt on Monday in the largest-ever bond offering by a Latin American company. The deal was split in six tranches comprised of fixed- and floating-rate debt with maturities ranging from three to 30 years, according to a report from Thomson Reuters.

• Friday, May 10th 2013 - 06:44 UTC

  Brazil reports great interest in the coming 11th bidding hydrocarbons round

  

  The director of Brazil's Agencia Nacional do Petroleo (ANP) reports significant interest from operators in Brazil's upcoming 11th bidding round as the country pursues its plans to double its oil and natural gas production. The bidding round is the first since December 2008 and the first under the nation's new hydrocarbon law.