Energy & Oil

• Thursday, February 28th 2013 - 01:27 UTC

  Shell suspends offshore drilling program in the Arctic for the rest of 2013

  

  Royal Dutch Shell has said that it will suspend its offshore drilling program in the Arctic for the rest of 2013 in order to give time to ensure safety. The decision to pause drilling for oil in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off Alaska was widely expected, following a catalogue of problems last year.

• Wednesday, February 27th 2013 - 01:49 UTC

  Repsol sells package of LNG assets to Shell to cut its debt and hold to credit rating

  

  Spanish energy giant Repsol SA said Tuesday that it agreed to sell a package of liquefied natural gas assets to Royal Dutch Shell Plc in a transaction valued at 6.65 billion dollars. Shell will pay 4.4bn in cash and assume 2.25bn in debt, Repsol said in a regulatory filing.

• Monday, February 25th 2013 - 21:31 UTC

  Promising gas discovery in southern Chile Magallanes Region

  

  GeoPark Holdings has revealed the discovery of the new Palos Quemados gas field on the Tranquilo block in Chile in the southern region of Magallanes. The Palos Quemados field is the first gas discovery in the Tranquilo Block by GeoPark and the first hydrocarbon discovery in the Magallanes Fold and Thrust Belt in more than 40 years.

• Friday, February 22nd 2013 - 18:25 UTC

  Falklands confirms £ 26m fishing and oil ‘windfalls’ only for the Consolidated Fund

  

  The Falkland Islands government at a public meeting defended their position of not including in the annual budget what they described as ‘windfalls’ from fishing and oil and instead adding the ‘exceptional” excess revenue to the Consolidated Fund.

• Friday, February 22nd 2013 - 18:18 UTC

  MLA Hansen takes over Falklands’ Minerals portfolio following controversy

  

  Member of Legislative Assembly Ian Hansen will assume responsibility for the Falklands’ government Minerals portfolio after MLA Barry Elsby relinquished the post due to a conflict of interest. The brief release from Gilbert House adds that MLA Hansen has prior experience in the Minerals portfolio adding that MLA Jan Cheek will continue as the second portfolio holder.

• Friday, February 22nd 2013 - 05:11 UTC

  Colombia with enough oil for eight years at current rate of consumption

  

  Colombia only has enough oil to last another eight years and must urgently step up exploration efforts to locate more reserves, Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas said.

• Friday, February 22nd 2013 - 01:17 UTC

  Foreign companies don’t have to fear nationalization, if they invest, says Morales

  

  President Evo Morales said on Thursday that Repsol and the other multinational companies operating in Bolivia should not fear nationalization since his government only appeals to that extreme when corporations think in ‘looting’ instead of investing.

• Thursday, February 21st 2013 - 05:27 UTC

  Mercosur begins technical meetings for new proposals on trade accord with EU

  

  Mercosur will retake next March technical discussions for a new proposal to be presented to the European Union for a trade and cooperation agreement, announced Argentine Foreign minister Hector Timerman next to his peer Antonio Patriota following bilateral talks on Wednesday in Rio do Janeiro.

• Thursday, February 21st 2013 - 01:37 UTC

  Japan posts huge January trade deficit: weak Yen, energy bill and dispute with China blamed

  

  Japan’s trade deficit soared to a record 17.4 billion dollars on energy imports, a weaker Yen and the territorial dispute with China, the country’s main trade partner. Exports climbed 6.4% in January from a year earlier, the first rise in eight months while imports increased 7.3%, the Finance Ministry said in Tokyo.

• Monday, February 18th 2013 - 16:55 UTC

  Floater options under consideration for Darwin offshore Falklands development

  

  Oil and gas exploration company Borders & Southern, B&S, expects to start work this month on two projects concerning its licenses in the offshore South Falkland basin, reports from London ‘Offshore’.