
Brazil's inflation rate rose to a 12-year high, officials said on Friday, as Latin America's largest economy continues to struggle through a protracted recession. Driven by rising food prices, the annual inflation rate hit 10.71%, the highest since November 2003 and well beyond the central bank's target ceiling of 6.5%, said national statistics institute IBGE.

The Falkland Islands government would not permit anything less than full and proper abandonment of exploration wells drilled by any operator in the Falkland Islands, stated Director of Mineral Resources Stephen Luxton this week, following news of a contractual dispute between Premier Oil and Ocean Rig over the drilling rig Eirik Raude.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the Glauconitica zone of Chile's southernmost Magallanes region holds nearly 8.3 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable, unconventional tight gas, or nearly double Chile's production of that fossil fuel over the past 70 years.

Norway's Statoil giant announced on Tuesday an agreement with French Total to acquire a 15% working interest in an offshore exploration block in Uruguay's continental shelf. The announcement comes only weeks before Total is preparing to drill its first exploratory well in Uruguayan waters.

BP slumped to its biggest annual loss last year and announced thousands more job cuts on Tuesday, showing that even one of the nimblest oil producers is struggling in the worst market downturn in over a decade.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino will visit Russia, Qatar, Iran and Saudi Arabia on a tour of OPEC and non-OPEC countries intended to drum up support for action to stem the tumble in crude prices.

The government of Chile will be selling energy-short Argentina 5.5 million cubic feet of natural gas a day starting in May, providing also 200 MW of electricity through the interconnection system between both countries. Chile also committed to invest 200 million dollars in the Incremental Project of the Magallanes Area to boost hydrocarbon production.

As Brazil struggles with a corruption scandal in which executives and politicians face investigations of alleged bribery, Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras announced it will slash management jobs as part of an efficiency drive approved by its board of directors.

SBM Offshore’s CEO and another company executive have agreed an out-of-court settlement with the Brazilian public prosecutor’s office (Ministério Público Federal) for charges relating to the Petrobras corruption scandal.

The World Bank is lowering its 2016 forecast for crude oil prices to $37 per barrel in its latest Commodity Markets Outlook report from $51 per barrel in its October projections.