Energy & Oil

• Saturday, November 19th 2016 - 08:52 UTC

  Fuel shortages feared in Uruguay due to lorry drivers' strike

  

  The lorry drivers' strike already under way in Uruguay, which broke up as a conflict between freight carriers and the agriculture sectors, may have its impact on the distribution of car petrol, warns Mauro Borzzaconi of the trucking association.

• Tuesday, November 15th 2016 - 11:07 UTC

  Shell planning to invest US$ 10bn in Brazil's deep water production

  

  Oil major Shell is planning to continue investing heavily in Brazil as part of a bid to double its global deep water production by the early 2020s. Shell plans to invest US$10 billion over the next five years, Wael Sawan, the company’s executive vice president for deep water, said in an interview this week.

• Tuesday, November 15th 2016 - 09:40 UTC

  ANCAP's Carboclor sinks deeper, goes after sale or merger

  

  Losses increase from US $ 9 million by mid year to US $ 14 million in September due to contraction of domestic demand, the fall in international prices and the percentage of ethanol cut in gasolines.Carboclor, ANCAP's subsidiary in Argentina, shows no sign of recovery in its most recent balancesheet as production fell below “normal levels” caused by financial shortcomings which in turn led to a decrease in the inflow of raw materials to the refinery in Campana in the province of Buenos Aires. Shutting down the plant for 25 days is being considered as a partial solution.

• Monday, November 14th 2016 - 08:36 UTC

  Chile connects Latin America's largest solar plant to the national grid

  

  Spanish clean energy company Acciona Energía has connected the 246MW El Romero solar plant in Atacama desert, Chile to the county’s Interconnected Central System (SIC), becoming Latin America's largest. The US$343m El Romero Solar plant features 776,000 polycrystalline silicon photovoltaic modules, spread across 280ha area in the municipality of Vallenar, 645km north of the Santiago.

• Monday, November 14th 2016 - 07:54 UTC

  Petrobras cleans balance sheet and posts unexpected third quarter loss

  

  Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras posted an unexpected third-quarter loss after drastically reducing the value of oil fields and other assets amid a severe downsizing and weak oil prices. Petrobras lost a net 16.458 billion reais (US$4.9 billion) last quarter, five times more than a year earlier. Despite that, operational and cash flow trends improved and, without an impairment, profit could have totaled 600 million Reais, Chief Financial Officer Ivan Monteiro said.

• Monday, November 14th 2016 - 07:45 UTC

  Falklands' government first quarter surplus jumps to £6.407 million

  

  The Falkland Islands government numbers are looking brighter than forecasted: for the first three months of the financial year (July –September), the government is showing an actual surplus of £6.407 million, compared to a estimated surplus of £2.211 million.

• Saturday, November 12th 2016 - 21:27 UTC

  Congress opens Brazil's huge “pre-salt” oil fields to the private sector

  

  Petrobras will begin selling off huge “pre-salt” oil fields to raise cash for the desperate Brazilian national oil company, according to new legislation passed by Congress. Politicians in the lower house had fought against the bill, but lawmakers succeeded in pushing the bill through during a late-night session, and the vote stood at 251-22 by the end of the night.

• Friday, November 11th 2016 - 19:28 UTC

  Petrobras signs US$ 1.2bn contract for natural gas exploration in southern Bolivia

  

  Executives of Brazilian state oil company Petrobras and Bolivian counterpart YPFB signed this week a contract for a US$1.2 billion natural-gas exploration venture in southern Bolivia. Bolivian President Evo Morales and Brazil's minister of mines and energy, Fernando Coelho Filho, traveled to Bolivia's eastern city of Santa Cruz for the signing ceremony.

• Thursday, November 10th 2016 - 11:35 UTC

  Brazil lowers fuel prices: diesel down 10.4% and gasoline, 3.1% at the refinery

  

  In line with the pricing policy announced by Petrobras on October 14, 2016, the company’s markets and pricing executive committee has decided to reduce the prices of diesel and gasoline sold at its refineries by 10.4% and 3.1%, respectively.The combination of a 12.1% fall in the international prices of oil and oil products between October 14 and now, and the reduction in the company’s domestic market share has impacted the usage level of Petrobras’ assets, especially its refineries, its inventory levels and also its flows of imports and exports

• Monday, November 7th 2016 - 10:41 UTC

  PDVSA, India reach agreement on joint oil production ventures

  

  Venezuela's state-owned oil and natural gas company PDVSA and India have signed accords worth $1.45 billion whereby oil production is expected to increase from 430,000 barrels per day to 855,000 in less than a year. Exports in mind, there is a natiowide shortage of fuel.