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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, June 9th 2025 - 13:28 UTC

Energy & Oil

  • Monday, April 18th 2016 - 08:40 UTC

    Leading oil exporters can't agree to cap production; Iran did not attend

    Qatar'a Sada said the general conclusion was more time was needed “to consult among ourselves in Opec and non-Opec producers”

    The meeting of the world's leading oil exporters to discuss capping production has ended without agreement. After hours of talks in Qatar, the country's energy minister Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada said that the oil producers needed “more time”.

  • Wednesday, April 13th 2016 - 05:03 UTC

    Ecuador signs US$ 1 billion investment deals to boost oil production in existing fields

    Petroamazonas signed a contract with Pañaturi consortium, made up of China’s Sinopec International and Sinopec Service Ecuador

    Ecuadorian state-owned energy firm Petroamazonas EP, which is looking to boost production at nine of its existing oil fields and on Monday signed a series of investment deals amounting to US$ 1 billion for those areas, enlisting the help of both domestic and foreign companies.

  • Thursday, April 7th 2016 - 09:03 UTC

    Venezuela becomes strong client of millions of barrels of US WTI crude

    The tanker Krymsk was loaded with 500,000 barrels of West Texas Intermediate crude at the U.S. Gulf Coast on March 28. It will arrive in Curacao this week.

    Venezuela's PDVSA will discharge in the coming days its first cargo of U.S. crude bought from British BP, who along with China Oil was awarded a tender to supply the state-run company with some 8 million barrels in the second quarter, traders close to the deal revealed on Wednesday.

  • Monday, April 4th 2016 - 04:12 UTC

    Petrobras launches voluntary layoff program to cut 12.000 jobs

    Investors have long criticized Petrobras for over hiring and struggling to cut some of the 57,000 people it directly employs when things get tough.

    Brazil's embattled oil company Petrobras said it will launch a voluntary layoff program to cut an estimated 12,000 jobs in a bid to save up to 33 billion reais ($9.20 billion) by 2020. The program will cost 4.4 billion reais and is open to all employees, according to a statement from Petrobras, which has been hard hit by low oil prices, refinery project problems and a massive price-fixing, bribery and political kickback scandal.

  • Sunday, April 3rd 2016 - 07:52 UTC

    Mega corporation Odebrecht involved in Petrobras case, plans to sell assets to meet debt obligations

    Marcelo Odebrecht was sentenced to 19 years in prision

    Troubled Brazilian construction company Odebrecht SA plans to sell about 12 billion reais (US$3.4 billion) in assets to help meet its debt obligations, according to the builder’s chief executive officer. The company had a gross debt of 85 billion reais in 2014, the most recent figure available, but much of it is long-term debt and the biggest payments start only in 2025, Odebrecht CEO Newton de Souza said in an interview published Friday in the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper.

  • Friday, April 1st 2016 - 06:07 UTC

    Total/Exxon/Mobil drilling offshore Uruguay a record-deep well; first since 1976

    The well was spud at the “Raya/1” prospect in Block 14 by the Maersk/Venturer drilling ship

    A consortium led by France's Total and U.S.-based super major ExxonMobil Corp started this week drilling for oil off Uruguay, Industry, Energy and Mining Minister Carolina Cosse announced. Uruguay is totally reliant on imports for its oil and has for decades tried to discover possible hydrocarbons resources both in the continent and offshore.

  • Wednesday, March 30th 2016 - 08:00 UTC

    Argentina wins a first round at the WTO over a biodiesel controversy with the EU

    In 2013 the administration of Cristina Fernández filed a complaint with the WTO over the EU's decision to slap anti-dumping duties on Argentina's biodiesel.

    The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled on Tuesday in favor of Argentina in a series of complaints the country filed with the international body, challenging punitive duties by the European Union on its biodiesel imports. The WTO, however, said the EU was not violating its rules.

  • Tuesday, March 22nd 2016 - 06:25 UTC

    Petrobras losses in 4Q climb to US$ 10bn; more staff cuts expected

    Once the crown jewel of Brazil's government, Petrobras' image quickly lost its luster amid mismanagement and corruption.

    Brazil's state-run oil company, Petrobras, reported a record quarterly loss of $10.2 billion on Monday due to a large reduction in the value of some assets amid lower oil prices. Petrobras has been at the center of a sprawling corruption scandal that has ensnared some of Brazil's most powerful lawmakers and business executives.

  • Thursday, March 17th 2016 - 06:01 UTC

    Falklands' oil industry making steady advance 'with positive signs from Argentina', says GlobalData

    The report entitled 'Falkland Islands Steadily Advances Towards First Oil', links the future of the industry with Argentina's new attitude

    Falkland Islands' oil and gas industry is making steady advancement in spite of global concerns about falling prices, according to new analysis by GlobalData. With positive signs coming from the neighboring Argentina, which recently witnessed a change in government, the Falklands is preparing to commercialize production of its first oil project, Premier Oil's Sea Lion.

  • Sunday, March 13th 2016 - 22:40 UTC

    Oil at US$ 67 in Argentina has all the Majors converging

    With the crash in prices since mid-2014, the effect of the regulation has reversed: motorists are now effectively subsidizing the oil industry.

    By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

    Argentina offers one of the few places on earth where oil companies are not suffering from the full force of the collapse in prices. Argentina regulates oil prices, a policy originally intended to insulate the public from the whims of the market, protecting people from triple-digit crude prices. But with the crash in prices since mid-2014, the effect of the regulation has reversed: motorists are now effectively subsidizing the oil industry.