
Following on Brazil's National Energy Policy Council recommendations the President Lula da Silva administration has given the green light for the resumption of construction of the third reactor at the Angra nuclear power plant, reports Sao Paulo's Gazeta Mercantil.

Exxon Mobil Corp.'s freeze on $12 billion of assets belonging to Venezuela's state oil company was overturned by a U.K. court in a set-back for the U.S. energy company in its dispute with President Hugo Chavez.

Brazil's government managed oil corporation Petrobras and Shell have signed a liquefied natural gas (LNG) firm supply agreement to furnish the Pecém (Ceará) and Baía de Guanabara (Rio de Janeiro) re-gasification terminals.

Oil prices which reached 110.20 US dollars a barrel and the Euro which hit a new record high of 1.55 US dollars seem to have reduced the central banks concerted effort to a mere one day good intention.
Chile and Ecuador will join in exploring for oil in the Gulf of Guayaquil, visiting Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said Monday in Santiago.
Argentina will raise taxes on the country's natural gas exports in an effort to ensure domestic energy supplies, Planning Minister Julio De Vido said on Monday. The amount of the increase was not immediately disclosed but the move hiked taxes already in place on Argentine natural gas exports.
Argentina and Venezuela are countries of absolute and necessary complementation in the context of the main axis of the XXI century, food and energy said Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on Thursday following the signing of food for energy agreements with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
After thirteen years on top, Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. That honor now belongs to his friend and sometimes bridge partner Warren Buffett, according to a report from Forbes magazine.

OPEC accused the United States on Wednesday of economic mismanagement, which it said is pushing oil prices to new record highs and rejected calls to increase output. Oil prices surged for the first time past 104 US dollars a barrel after OPEC's announcement and a US government release showing a surprise drop in crude stockpiles.
Argentina's natural gas reserves have dropped dramatically from a 25 years horizon to just 9 years between 2001 and 2005, according to a report from the Nation's General Auditing Office, AGN, covering 1993 to 2006.