Energy & Oil

• Friday, April 19th 2019 - 09:29 UTC

  Brazil to put up new pre-salt oil blocks for auction in October

  

  Brazil will hold an offshore oil deposit auction in October featuring blocks that were the object of a long-running dispute with state energy giant Petrobras. Reuters reports, citing Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, that participants in the auction will need to cough up a signing bonus of a total US$26.9 billion for the four blocks.

• Friday, April 19th 2019 - 09:27 UTC

  ConocoPhillips pulling out of the North Sea oil exploration and production

  

  ConocoPhillips is pulling out of UK exploration and production after selling its North Sea oil and gas assets to Chrysaor for US$ 2.68bn (£2bn). The sale will boost Chrysaor's production by about 72,000 barrels a day to 177,000 - making it one of the UK's biggest operators.

• Thursday, April 18th 2019 - 09:41 UTC

  Petrobras insists it is completely free of political interference and increases diesel price 10 cents

  

  Brazilian state-run oil firm Petrobras hiked diesel prices on Wednesday, and executives said the firm could expand its already aggressive divestment plan while arguing the company was completely free of political interference.

• Thursday, April 18th 2019 - 08:33 UTC

  Spain's Repsol suspends swaps of refined products for crude from Venezuela

  

  Spain’s Repsol has suspended its swaps of refined products for crude with Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA, as U.S. officials weigh penalties for foreign firms doing business with Venezuela.

• Wednesday, April 17th 2019 - 09:56 UTC

  Qatar Petroleum wins five offshore blocks in Argentina's South Atlantic basins

  

  Qatar Petroleum (QP) has won exploration rights in five offshore blocks in the North Argentina, and Malvinas West basins in Argentina. The winning bids were announced on Tuesday by Argentina’s Secretariat of Government of Energy (“SGE”) at the end of a public tender process that started in November 2018.

• Tuesday, April 16th 2019 - 08:31 UTC

  Brazil's Real and Petrobras shares recover on Monday trading

  

  Brazil's Real and shares rose on Monday, recovering after declines last week, while the currencies of oil exporters such as the Mexican and Colombian pesos weakened as crude prices dipped.

• Monday, April 15th 2019 - 09:34 UTC

  Brazil fuel-price controversy: Minister Guedes confident he can convince Bolsonaro and overcome the situation

  

  Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said he’ll clear up any confusion from President Jair Bolsonaro’s decision to halt a planned fuel-price hike by Petrobras.

• Friday, April 12th 2019 - 09:48 UTC

  Venezuela ships a million barrels of oil to Cuba despite US sanctions

  

  Venezuela's state-run PDVSA has shipped one million barrels of oil to Cuba days after the United States imposed fresh sanctions on vessels and firms involved in exports to the island in an effort to halt oil trade between the political allies, according to a PDVSA document and tanker tracking data.

• Thursday, April 11th 2019 - 09:07 UTC

  Brazilian prosecutors planning to file criminal charges to mining giant Vale SA

  

  Brazilian prosecutors plan to file criminal charges against Vale SA and employees of the mining giant over the deadly collapse of a mine-waste dam in January, the lead investigator told The Wall Street Journal.

• Thursday, April 11th 2019 - 06:54 UTC

  Petrobras to receive US$ 9.058bn following agreement with the government

  

  The Brazilian government reached a landmark deal to pay state-controlled oil company Petrobras SA US$9.058 billion for revising a transfer-of-rights oil contract, Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque said.