Energy & Oil

• Thursday, April 9th 2015 - 04:24 UTC

  Royal Dutch Shell buys BG Group for £47 Billion. Becomes main foreign oil producer in Brazil

  

  Oil and gas company Shell has agreed to buy British rival BG Group for the equivalent of 70 billion dollars, making Europe's largest oil company the pre-eminent player in global natural gas and adding world-class fields in Brazil. The deal may signal a new wave of mega-mergers as the energy industry tries to adapt to lower prices.

• Thursday, April 9th 2015 - 02:45 UTC

  With the end of commodities prices 'super-cycle', UN panel lowers Latin American growth forecast to 1%

  

  The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has revised downward its economic growth projection for the region in 2015, forecasting a 1.0% increase in the regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the United Nations organization said today in a press release.

• Thursday, April 9th 2015 - 01:35 UTC

  Brazil inflation soars as electricity rates go up 22% in March and 60.42% in the last 12 months

  

  Consumer prices in Brazil picked up in March, putting the 12-month rate at the highest level in more than eleven years, highlighting one of the main challenges facing Latin America's largest economy in the year ahead. The rolling 12-month IPCA was up 8.13% through March, up from 7.70% in February, remaining well above the central bank's 6.5% ceiling. In the first quarter of the year, prices have risen 3.83%, while the 12-month figure marked the highest level since December 2003, when it reached 9.30%.

• Wednesday, April 8th 2015 - 14:44 UTC

  Argentina's few friends in the world; China and Russia, Cristina Fernandez foreign policy priorities

  

  Argentina's foreign policy, under president Cristina Fernández, has new priorities, China and Russia, according to columnist Joaquin Morales Solá, one of the outstanding political analysts of Argentina. This means a radical change from democratic Argentina (since 1983) when the interests of the country were targeted in Latin America, particularly Brazil, Europe and the US, although the importance of the short list varied according to the different elected presidents.

• Tuesday, April 7th 2015 - 22:40 UTC

  Falklands oil exploration rig moves to Isobel Deep, following Zebedee drilling success

  

  Following its success with the Zebedee drill, the rig Eirik Raude is moving a short distance to start the second well of the latest Falkland Islands exploration campaign. The next target of the current four prospects exploration campaign is Isobel Deep, later followed by Jayne East and finally Chatham.

• Monday, April 6th 2015 - 17:15 UTC

  Santos port four-day fire raging; efforts concentrated in stopping flames from spreading

  

  A fire at a fuel storage facility near Brazil's largest port Santos entered its fourth day on Sunday as 110 firefighters worked to stop the flames from spreading further, the local fire department said.

• Monday, April 6th 2015 - 16:43 UTC

  Mexican oil production drops following deadly fire on offshore rig

  

  Mexico's oil production dropped following a deadly fire at an offshore platform, while authorities are still searching for three missing workers, state-run energy firm Pemex said.

• Monday, April 6th 2015 - 06:20 UTC

  International legal actions against Petrobras keep climbing

  

  One of Sweden’s largest investors has pledged to take direct legal action against Petrobras, becoming the third large investor to seek damages individually from the Brazilian oil group.

• Monday, April 6th 2015 - 06:02 UTC

  UK ratifies support for Falklands' oil and gas industry development

  

  The British government has dismissed a reported threat from Argentina to prosecute oil firms drilling near the 
Falkland Islands. Argentine authorities said that the explorations “carry a huge environmental risk” and claimed that the London-registered companies, which announced last week they had found oil and gas in a remote field off the Islands, should be tried in Argentina

• Friday, April 3rd 2015 - 07:08 UTC

  Falklands first well of current drilling program declared “oil and gas discovery”

  

  The Falkland Islands government welcomed on Thursday the announcement by Premier Oil and partners that the 14/15b=5 “Zebedee” well has been declared an oil and gas discovery following the completion of its evaluation program, Zebedee is the first of six wells from the current drilling campaign planned to take place in Falklands waters during 2015.