Brazilian mining giant Vale signed a settlement deal on Thursday to pay 37.7 billion reais (US$ 7 billion) to the state of Minas Gerais, following the collapse of a dam two years ago that devastated the city of Brumadinho and killed more than 270 people.
Brazil’s Car Wash anti-corruption unit has officially been disbanded putting an end for a team of prosecutors that sent dozens of Brazilian and regional political and business leaders to jail, including several former presidents.
Brazil independent truckers strike got off on Monday to a weak start because of internal divisions on how to protest fuel prices. The government said traffic was flowing freely on all of the country's highways far from fears of a repeat of the 2018 protest that disrupted food and fuel supplies.
Brazil's oil and gas giant Petrobras announced a hydrocarbon discovery in the pre-salt Campos Basin offshore Rio de Janeiro state, some 200 kilometers from the coast and at a depth of 2,950 meters.
The Hess Exploration company is betting strongly in the opportunities of its Guyana operations. With a 30% interest in the Stabroek Block, it has allotted more than 80% of its capital and exploratory budget of US$1.9 billion for 2021 to its offshore blocks.
The Falkland Islands capital, Stanley Retail Price Index (RPI) indicated that the cost of living has dropped again in the last quarter of 2020 after a steady increase in the previous two quarters.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com – Crude oil output from fields operated by Brazil's energy major Petrobras hit a record last year despite the pandemic, at an average 2.3 million BPD, Bloomberg reported, comparing the production rate to that of Kuwait.
The Argentine Chamber of Mining Entrepreneurs (CAEM) reported that the country’s mining output fell by 70% y-o-y in 2020 due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. CAEM also said that small and medium-sized mining operations, which tend to be family-owned, saw a 40-50% fall in production.
Bolivia will build ecological diesel and biodiesel plants to reduce imports of liquid fuels, Hydrocarbon and Energy Minister Franklin Molina announced over this past weekend.
Norwegian oil and gas exploration seismic data company PGS has signed an agreement with Uruguay's state oil company ANCAP to reprocess over 11 000 km of existing 2D lines of various vintages, applying the latest seismic imaging techniques.