Energy & Oil

• Friday, March 8th 2019 - 08:44 UTC

  Major blackout in Venezuela; Caracas in complete darkness: “light will return when Maduro is removed”

  

  Most of Venezuela has been hit by a continuing electricity blackout that began on Thursday afternoon. The power cut plunged the capital Caracas into almost complete darkness during rush hour and has extended to the vast majority of the country.

• Thursday, March 7th 2019 - 08:43 UTC

  UK and industry plan 30% of electricity from offshore wind farms by 2030

  

  A deal confirmed between the UK government and the wind industry will ensure 30% of electricity comes from offshore wind by 2030. The move will help the UK towards the aim of securing almost all its power from low-carbon sources by 2030.

• Wednesday, March 6th 2019 - 10:15 UTC

  Colombia to begin oil exploration offshore in the Caribbean

  

  Colombia and its state-run oil company, Ecopetrol, announced they have signed an offshore exploration and production deal for a nearly 400,000-hectare (988,000-acre) bloc in the Caribbean, the country's first new oil and gas contract in more than four years.

• Wednesday, March 6th 2019 - 08:44 UTC

  S&P slashes credit rating of several leading Mexican companies including national oil Pemex

  

  Rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) slashed the credit rating for Mexico’s national oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, piling more pressure on the government to tighten up the debt-laden oil firm’s finances.

• Tuesday, March 5th 2019 - 09:17 UTC

  Libyan main oilfield back in production in coming days

  

  Libyan state oil company NOC said on Monday it had lifted force majeure at the El Sharara oilfield, the country's biggest, which has been closed since December when state guards and tribesmen seized it.

• Friday, March 1st 2019 - 13:05 UTC

  Maduro moves PDVSA office to Moscow to avoid sanctions

  

  Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez announced at a press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the central office of state oil company PDVSA in Europe, located in Lisbon, will move to Moscow to guarantee the security of the country's assets abroad, which were delivered to the Venezuelan Parliament in other countries.

• Friday, February 22nd 2019 - 09:24 UTC

  Brazilian oil production challenges OPEC' attempts to balance the market and prices

  

  While everyone is talking about how surging U.S. crude oil production will offset a large part of the ongoing OPEC/non-OPEC production cuts, there are other oil producers not taking part in the OPEC+ deal and poised to see their output jump this year.

• Friday, February 22nd 2019 - 09:12 UTC

  Brazil's Vale ordered to suspend more iron ore operations fearing dam breaks

  

  Brazil's mining agency (ANM) has ordered Vale to suspend operations at its Fabrica and Vargem Grande complexes, as part of an ongoing crackdown following last month's deadly dam break at the iron producer’s Corrego do Feijão mine.

• Tuesday, February 19th 2019 - 08:39 UTC

  Brazil bans upstream mining dams following the Brumadinho disaster that killed 300

  

  Brazil's government on Monday banned new upstream mining dams and ordered the decommissioning of all such dams by 2021, targeting the type of structure that burst last month in the town of Brumadinho, killing hundreds of people.

• Monday, February 18th 2019 - 10:08 UTC

  Russian bank freezes Venezuela's oil company accounts, fearing US sanctions

  

  Russian lender Gazprombank has frozen the accounts of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and halted transactions with the firm to reduce the risk of the bank falling under US sanctions, according to Reuters.