Energy & Oil

• Wednesday, May 11th 2011 - 01:34 UTC

  Fearing US reaction, Cuba makes public full-scale offshore oil exploration plans

  

  Cuba hopes to counter US worries over its plans to start its first full-scale offshore oil exploration in a rare presentation this week to an energy audience outside the island.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2011 - 22:38 UTC

  YPF makes large shale oil discovery, equivalent to 6% of Argentina’s reserves

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced on Tuesday that YPF energy company had made a large shale oil discovery in Neuquén province, a find that she considered to be of extreme importance, since “it will allow for us to maintain and further promote development” throughout the country.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2011 - 10:25 UTC

  Another major blackout leaves western Venezuela ‘totally affected’

  

  Venezuela restored early Tuesday 90% of power knocked out by a blackout Monday that hit 10 states in the western part of the country. This is the second major power failure in just over a month.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2011 - 09:50 UTC

  Chilean protestors clash with police as regulators approve five-dam project in Patagonia

  

  Chile approved on Monday the construction of a hydroelectric project that would flood Patagonian valleys and become the country’s biggest power generator, sparking violent protests.

• Monday, May 9th 2011 - 18:48 UTC

  Repsol plans to sell an additional 3% of YPF in the Argentine market

  

  Spain’s oil company Repsol plans to sell up to 3% of YPF on the Argentine market as part of a gradual divestment of its stake in that unit, according to company sources.

• Saturday, May 7th 2011 - 04:50 UTC

  Soybean and by products represent 25% of Argentine exports

  

  Argentine overseas sales of soybeans and by products reached 17.3 billion US dollars in 2010, equivalent to 25.4% of total exports, according to the latest report from the country’s statistics office INDEC. In 2009 the soy complex exports represented 23.3%.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 17:29 UTC

  Brazil’s inflation peaks in April, but prices should begin slowing down in May

  

  Brazil’s benchmark consumer price index in April exceeded the upper limit of the government’s target range for the first time since 2005 but officials are confident April was a peak and during May the tendency is for inflation to decelerate.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 17:26 UTC

  Brazilian automobile industry, still strong, begins to feel the tight money pinch

  

  Automobile production in Brazil fell 4.9% and sales dropped 5.5% in April from March, the national automakers' association said on Friday.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 17:24 UTC

  Top US grain processors join the ‘bio-fuel refineries rush’ in Brazil

  Cargill Inc and the world’s largest grain processor Archer-Daniels-Midland Co, are planning to invest about 560 million US dollars in new bio-fuel refineries in Brazil.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 17:21 UTC

  US payrolls expanded in April, but jobless rate climbed to 9%

  United States employers in April added more jobs than forecast. Payrolls expanded by 244,000 last month, the biggest gain since May 2010, after a revised 221,000 increase the prior month, the Labour Department said Friday in Washington.