Tens of thousands of workers at Brazil's state-owned Petrobras went on a nationwide 24-hour strike on Friday to protest the oil company's plans to sell 15.1 billion dollars worth of assets by the end of next year to help pay off a debt of about 120 billion dollars.
With the recently concluded nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 countries, oil prices have already started heading downward on sentiments that Iran's crude oil supply would further contribute to the already rising global supply glut. The economic crisis in Greece, OPEC's high production levels and China's market turmoil have created more pressure on oil prices, making a price rebound look highly unlikely in the near future.
The Exxon Mobil oil find in Guyana, which has triggered a strong reaction from neighboring Venezuela could be worth 12 times more than that nation’s GDP. In effect according to a Guyanese minister, the find at Liza-1well in offshore Guyana could be worth about $40 billion at current international crude prices.
Argentine diplomats questioned in Montevideo why the United Kingdom is not punished for its denial to comply with the UN General Assembly Resolution from 1965 which calls on Argentina and the UK to sit and dialogue on the Falklands/Malvinas dispute. They also denied any attempts from Argentina to suffocate the Falklands economy or hydrocarbons industry.
The U.S. Interior Department on Wednesday granted Royal Dutch Shell two final permits to explore for crude in the Arctic this summer, but said the company cannot drill into the oil zone until required emergency equipment arrives in the region.
Three executives of Brazil's Camargo Correa group were convicted of money laundering, corruption and other charges, the first construction-industry executives to be sentenced in a giant price fixing and bribery scandal involving state-run oil company Petrobras.
The latest Mercosur summit, held last week in Brazil included a special statement, --besides the main regular declaration with 69 articles--, blasting the UK for violating international law and Argentine domestic law over the exploration of hydrocarbons in the Argentine continental shelf in proximity of the Malvinas Islands.
Brazil's Petrobras is working to bring domestic diesel and gasoline prices into parity with international levels in order to attract downstream buyers or partners. The oil and gas giant needs to sell assets to survive a combination of mounting debt, low oil prices and a giant corruption scandal.
Premier Oil, with strong involvement in the development of the Falkland Islands' oil and gas industry is among the winners in the first round of Mexico’s oil and gas privatization. The two licences secured by the London listed oil firm’s consortium were the only assets successfully auctioned by the Mexican authorities.
Brazil's state-run oil producer Petrobras, said in a securities filing on Friday that its motion to dismiss a class-action lawsuit in the United States had been denied by the court. Petrobras said part of the complaint against the company relating to bonds issued in the United States in 2012 was denied.