Energy & Oil

• Wednesday, December 19th 2018 - 08:53 UTC

  Patagonia indigenous peoples suing oil majors for “environmental contamination”

  

  A major group of indigenous people living in Argentine Patagonia are taking some of the world's biggest oil and gas multinationals to court for “environmental contamination,” Greenpeace said this week. The Mapuche are suing American giant Exxon, French company Total and the Argentina-based Pan American Energy, which is part-owned by BP.

• Sunday, December 16th 2018 - 15:39 UTC

  AMLO announces plan to reshape Mexico's oil production

  

  Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, commonly referred to by his acronym as AMLO, Saturday launched the National Plan for the Production of Hydrocarbons in a move to strengthen the country's oil industry.

• Wednesday, December 12th 2018 - 06:37 UTC

  Mexico to invest US$ 30bn in the “Central American conundrum” and improve migration relations with US

  

  Mexico will invest more than US$ 30 billion in its poor southern states over the next five years, the foreign minister said, boosting the region economically as part of efforts to curb migration. Under pressure from the United States, Mexico is grappling to halt the northward flow of migrants fleeing violence and poverty in Central America.

• Monday, December 10th 2018 - 05:38 UTC

  Brazil incoming energy minister favors nuclear and wind power; “hydro has reached its limit”

  

  Brazil’s incoming mines and energy minister, Bento Albuquerque, supports more nuclear and wind power development to diversify the country’s energy matrix, while saying hydropower had reached its limit, newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported.

• Monday, December 10th 2018 - 05:30 UTC

  Ecuador expects to renegotiate debt with China; president off to Beijing

  

  Ecuador plans to renegotiate the terms of its debt to China, President Lenin Moreno said ahead of a trip to Beijing, adding that a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for additional financing was possible.

• Saturday, December 8th 2018 - 09:30 UTC

  Brazil environment regulator denies license to drill near mouth of the Amazon

  

  Brazil's environmental regulator on Friday denied French oil giant Total a license to drill for crude in five blocks near the mouth of the Amazon river. Regulatory agency Ibama said the license was denied “due to a set of technical problems” identified during the application process.

• Friday, December 7th 2018 - 06:41 UTC

  Mexican president wants more investment from oil companies before awarding new contracts

  

  Mexico’s new president says he will take a three-year break from awarding new oil exploration contracts in order to judge the results of contracts already awarded.

• Thursday, December 6th 2018 - 09:47 UTC

  Venezuela importing 300.000 bpd of refined products to ease fuel shortage

  

  Venezuela this month plans to import over 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of refined products to ease domestic fuel shortages caused by hobbled refineries and need to prioritize exports, according to internal documents, reports Reuters.

• Thursday, December 6th 2018 - 09:32 UTC

  YPF and Malaysia's Petrona committed to invest US$ 2.3bn in Vaca Muerta

  

  Argentina's state-run energy company YPF and Malaysia's Petronas agreed this week to invest US$ 2.3 billion in a shale oil project in Vaca Muerta, with a target of reaching 60,000 b/d of oil equivalent by 2022. The investment will be in La Amarga Chica, where the companies have been testing the shale oil potential since 2015 and have spent US$ 550 million to date in the process, YPF said in a statement.

• Thursday, December 6th 2018 - 08:34 UTC

  French government suspends fuel tax, but protests continued across the country

  

  The French government's decision to suspend fuel tax and utility hikes on Tuesday did little to appease protesters, who called the move a “first step” and vowed to fight on after large-scale rioting in Paris last weekend.