Economy

• Friday, November 13th 2015 - 14:04 UTC

  Premier Oil defers project development and exploration spending into 2016

  

  The successful Falkland Islands' exploration company Premier Oil has cut full-year capital expenditure as the oil producer deferred some project development and exploration spending into 2016, it said on Thursday. Like its peers, Premier Oil has to reduce spending to cope with a halving in oil prices since a peak in June last year that has eaten into revenues.

• Friday, November 13th 2015 - 09:23 UTC

  Mine disaster: Brazil fines BHP Billiton and Vale; expects companies to pay cleanup costs

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has slapped preliminary fines worth 250 million Reais ($94 million) against a BHP Billiton-Value owned mine in Minas Gerais state where two dams burst, killing at least seven people.

• Friday, November 13th 2015 - 09:10 UTC

  Petrobras reports huge 3Q losses: sharp devaluation of the currency blamed

  

  Brazil's scandal-plagued state oil giant Petrobras on Thursday announced third-quarter losses of about US$ 1 billion, mainly due to the sharp devaluation of the Brazilian currency.Petrobras, mired in a hugely damaging scandal involving bribes and high-level political payoffs, posted losses of 3.76 billion Reais in the quarter, compared with a loss of 5.3 billion Reais a year earlier.

• Thursday, November 12th 2015 - 10:04 UTC

  Brazil increases soybean forecast output to 102.8m tons for the 2015/16 season

  

  The Brazilian government increased its forecasts for what’s already expected to be a record season for soybean output and exports as farmers expand the planted area while yield prospects rise on above-average rainfall.

• Thursday, November 12th 2015 - 08:29 UTC

  Kirchners' ex minister claims poverty in Argentina is similar to that of the 2001/02 crisis

  

  Argentina's former Secretary of Culture José Nun said that “current poverty” in the country “is similar to that which preceded the 2001/02 crisis”, and underlined that he “would never vote” for the presidential incumbent candidate Daniel Scioli, who was handpicked by outgoing head of state Cristina Fernandez.

• Thursday, November 12th 2015 - 08:16 UTC

  Brazilian ex-central bank orthodox president is back on stage called by Lula da Silva

  

  Brazil's former central bank chief Henrique Meirelles said on Wednesday he was not invited to take over the finance ministry and insisted the government needs to push ahead with unpopular austerity measures to pull the economy out of recession.

• Thursday, November 12th 2015 - 08:07 UTC

  Petrobras striking workers consider salary offer but insist the company must reverse investment cuts

  

  Brazil's energy giant Petrobras offered striking workers a 9.54% wage hike on Wednesday in an effort to end a 10-day strike and prevent it from causing further production losses. But union officials said the deal makes almost no concessions on their most important demands. These include calls on Petrobras to reverse investment cuts and block planned assets sales designed to reduce Petrobras' debt.

• Wednesday, November 11th 2015 - 07:25 UTC

  Argentine agro-business shares booming on presidential candidates' pledges

  

  Argentina's agro-business shares are booming in the Buenos Aires stock exchange since 26 October, following the first round of the presidential election, and expectations are even greater on the promises from the two candidates that will be disputing the runoff on 22 November.

• Tuesday, November 10th 2015 - 08:00 UTC

  China imports drop for twelfth month running: 18.8% in October

  

  China saw imports drop for the twelfth month in a row in October giving further cause for concern over the Chinese economy. Imports by the world's biggest trader of goods fell 18.8% from a year earlier to $130.8bn, a slight improvement on September's 20.4% decline.

• Tuesday, November 10th 2015 - 07:39 UTC

  Oil megaprojects won't stay on the shelf for long

  

  One casualty of the oil price downturn could be the megaproject. For years, as conventional oil reserves depleted and became increasingly hard to find, oil companies ventured into far-flung locales to find new sources of production.