Energy & Oil

• Wednesday, December 14th 2016 - 05:10 UTC

  Trump challenges Congress and nominates close friend of Putin, Rex Tillerson Secretary of State

  

  Donald Trump officially announced his plan Tuesday to nominate ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, a pick that could pose complications in the confirmation process due to Tillerson's ties to Russia. Tillerson, 64, has no government or diplomatic experience but has done extensive work overseas on behalf of his petroleum company.

• Sunday, December 11th 2016 - 21:13 UTC

  Petrobras ordered to temporarily suspend divestiture program; court wants to review asset sales

  

  Brazil's federal auditing court (TCU) asked state-controlled oil company Petrobras to temporarily suspend its divestiture program while the court reviews asset sales procedures. The decision could delay Petrobras efforts to raise US$15.1 billion from asset sales by the end of 2016 as a way to reduce its huge debt -- the largest in the global oil industry.

• Thursday, December 8th 2016 - 19:01 UTC

  Russia sells 19.5% of Rosneft - ‘biggest privatization deal of 2016,’ says Putin

  

  Russian President Vladimir Putin labeled the sale of 19.5% of state-owned oil giant Rosneft's shares to the natural resource trader Glencore International and a Qatari sovereign wealth fund for over $11 billion was “the biggest sale and acquisition in the world’s oil and gas sector in 2016,” the official Kremlin website reported Wednesday.

• Thursday, December 1st 2016 - 15:30 UTC

  Russia ready to do its part as OPEC countries agree on oil output cut

  

  As the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has reached a deal among all 14 members to cut oil production for the first time since 2008, Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak said his country was ready to do its part by reducing 300,000 barrels per day in the first half of 2017, provided OPEC adheres to the level of 32.5 mln barrels daily adjusted for Indonesia and on condition of maximum reciprocity from other non-OPEC countries. Russia is not an OPEC member.

• Wednesday, November 30th 2016 - 09:31 UTC

  Temer signs bill that opens sub-salt oil deposits to private the sector

  

  Brazilian president Michel Temer signed legislation on Tuesday which opens the way for oil companies other than state-controlled Petrobras to operate the coveted sub-salt acreage. The bill repeals a controversial 2010 rule that requires Petrobras to hold a minimum 30% operating stake in assets governed by production-sharing contracts, mainly sub-salt assets.

• Monday, November 28th 2016 - 09:36 UTC

  Doubts about OPEC's production cut agreement make crude oil prices dive

  

  Oil prices fell over 1 percent Monday in Asia following a decline of more than 3 percent Friday over disagreement between members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC exporters like Russia. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading at $46.40 per barrel at 0035 GMT (7.35 a.m. ET), down 84 cents, or 1.8 percent, from their last close, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were down 74 cents, or 1.6 percent, at $45.32 a barrel.

• Saturday, November 26th 2016 - 13:44 UTC

  Whole world -even Palestinians- helps Israel fight fires gone beyond control

  

  Palestinian firefighters and trucks and firefighting aircraft from Turkey, Greece, Croatia and Russia joined the operation to put down the flames. For four days, Israel has fought in its entire territory dozens of fires that spread thanks to a great drought and strong winds.

• Saturday, November 26th 2016 - 12:43 UTC

  BP buys into Egypt's super giant Zohr gas field, the largest in the Mediterranean

  

  BP announced on Friday that it has agreed to buy from Eni a 10% interest in the Shorouk concession offshore Egypt, which contains the super-giant Zohr gas field, for US$375 million. On closing, BP will also reimburse Eni for BP's share of past expenditure. As part of the agreement, BP also has an option before the end of 2017 to buy a further 5% interest in the concession under the same terms.

• Thursday, November 24th 2016 - 08:12 UTC

  Falklands refreshes long term Economic Development Strategy

  

  The Falkland Islands Government announced that on Wednesday the Executive Council approved the Terms of Reference to update the Falkland Islands Economic Development Strategy. The existing EDS was published in October 2010 following an extensive, two-year consultation process, and was intended to provide a blueprint for economic growth and development to 2025.

• Wednesday, November 23rd 2016 - 15:56 UTC

  Anses sells off all its Petrobras Argentina shares worth US$ 156 million

  

  As a part of the Pampa Energía takeover bid strategy, the Pensions Bureau guarantee fund had to sell its 11.85 % stake. It also holds 18% of Pampa's shares and saw no point in increasing that to 23% when prospects of a merger are on the radar. “If we didn't sell, they would have merged us with Pampa anyway,” a top Anses official said.