An auction next month of oilfields in Brazil may be the priciest ever held, raising at least US$ 50 billion in licensing fees and compensation. Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and other energy giants are set to vie for deep-sea deposits that could hold 15 billion barrels of oil, almost twice as much as Norway’s reserves.
Large blots of oil that have turned up on more than 130 Brazilian beaches are “very probably” of Venezuelan origin, Brazil's environment minister said on Wednesday. The oil began appearing in early September and has been seen along a 2,000-kilometre stretch of the northeastern Atlantic coast - with around 130 tons of oil residue collected by Monday.
Brazil’s environment minister says more than 100 tons of oil has been spilt along the northeastern coast since the beginning of September. Ricardo Salles said Monday on Twitter that 42 cities have been affected by the spills. He did not say how he reached those figures.
Russia will find ways to help Cuba get oil and petroleum products, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview broadcast on Saturday. Medvedev pledged to help develop Cuba’s energy sector during a visit to the island this week but did not announce any short-term measures to provide relief from crippling fuel shortages in the wake of tougher U.S. sanctions.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that his government is not seeking to take control of the Zama oilfield discovery, which is currently operated by a private consortium led by U.S.-based Talos Energy. The statement follows on a report from Reuters earlier in the week saying that Mexico’s national oil company, Pemex, wants to take control of Zama from Talos.
Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno declared a state of emergency Thursday as protests broke out nationwide over the end of decades-old fuel subsidies as part of a $2 billion government fiscal reform package. Police responded with tear gas in the worst unrest for years in the oil-producing Andean nation.
A violent attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure was carried out earlier this month. Some 18 drones and seven cruise missiles were reportedly fired in the direction of several oil facilities in the region. The Abqaiq facility was the primary location of attack, while cruise missiles struck an oilfield in Khurais, just east of the city of Riyadh.
US stocks tumbled into the red on Monday as attacks on Saudi crude production and record jumps in oil prices whipped up investor anxieties about the global economy.
The United States readied its response on Monday to the unprecedented attack on Saudi oil facilities as President Donald Trump said Iran was likely to blame, fanning new fears of conflict in the Gulf region.
Major oil companies have approved US$50 billion of projects since last year that will not be economically viable if governments implement the Paris Agreement on climate change, think-tank Carbon Tracker said in a report published on Friday.