Energy & Oil

• Thursday, August 22nd 2013 - 00:39 UTC

  Argentina’s trade surplus down 40% in July; unemployment fell to 7.2%

  

  Argentina's trade surplus shrank by 40% in July from a year earlier as surging fuel and auto imports increased pressure on President Cristina Fernandez government's system of currency controls. However the unemployment rate in the second quarter fell to 7.2% according to official data.

• Thursday, August 22nd 2013 - 00:37 UTC

  China’s CNOOC and Dow in line to sign agreements to develop Argentina’s shale deposits

  

  YPF, the energy company in which Argentina holds a majority stake said its next shale oil and gas partnership will be with a group including China’s Cnooc. A deal is expected to be signed sometime next month.

• Wednesday, August 21st 2013 - 18:39 UTC

  Sharp decline of oil and gas from off-shore UK is ‘worrying’ says annual report

  

  The sharp decline in production of oil and gas from under British waters is “worrying” industry leaders. Trade body Oil and Gas UK says there is record investment this year of £13.5bn, but its annual report on the industry's economic impact highlights the sharp fall in output of 19% during 2011 and 14% in 2012.

• Tuesday, August 20th 2013 - 01:42 UTC

  Argentina challenges ICSID judges in the dispute with Repsol over YPF seizure

  

  Argentina formally challenged on July 29 the appointments of Judge Francisco Orrego Vicuña as mediator in Argentina’s dispute with Spanish oil firm Repsol and Claus von Wobeser as the head of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)’s arbitral tribunal that will pronounce a ruling in the case, it was revealed by Telam the official news agency.

• Tuesday, August 20th 2013 - 01:14 UTC

  Tolmount gas discovery in the North Sea could be one of the largest in a decade

  

  Germany's E.ON says the size of a gas discovery made in the UK almost two years ago could be “significantly” larger than it previously thought. The integrated player said data from a recent appraisal well at the Tolmount discovery off the UK could make the find “one of the largest discoveries made in this part of the North Sea for several years”.

• Friday, August 16th 2013 - 17:46 UTC

  Ecuador ‘forced’ to drill for oil in pristine Amazon rainforest; ‘rich countries have failed us’

  

  Ecuador has abandoned a conservation plan that would have paid the country not to drill for oil in previously untouched parts of Yasuni National Park in the Amazon rainforest. President Rafael Correa said rich nations had failed to back the initiative, leaving Ecuador with no choice but go ahead with drilling.

• Friday, August 16th 2013 - 03:22 UTC

  Brazilean congress clears the way for sale of giant Libra offshore oil prospect

  

  The Brazilian congress rejected an amendment to an oil-royalty bill that threatened to derail the world's largest-ever sale of rights to develop offshore oil resources scheduled for October 21. The amendment had sought to set the Brazilian government's minimum share of “profit oil” from the sale of the giant Libra offshore prospect and other fields in Brazil's most productive oil area at 60%.

• Wednesday, August 14th 2013 - 03:13 UTC

  Chevron-YPF partnership splits the Argentina/Ecuador ‘progressive’ entente

  

  US petroleum giant Chevron has warned that the continuing legal battle with Ecuador's government over pollution charges could put in jeopardy the company's partnership with YPF to exploit the Vaca Muerta shale reserves in the Patagonian province of Neuquén, Argentina.

• Tuesday, August 13th 2013 - 02:14 UTC

  Uruguay announces on-shore oil “scientific confirmation” but with no commercial certainty

  

  The Uruguayan government announced the discovery of free hydrocarbons liquids in core samples next to source rocks in the northern county of Salto at a depth of 450 metres, which seems to be similar to another discovery two years ago.

• Sunday, August 11th 2013 - 21:51 UTC

  Beyond pigs in the pipeline: getting ahead of the leaks

  

  The 2010 Kalamazoo spill and the 2013 Exxon leak in Arkansas are the most glaring incidents, but these are just the big leaks that are found right away and reported. Most leaks are found eventually—but there is money to be saved and damage to be avoided by catching them at the smallest rupture. Right now, we rely on pigs in the pipeline to do this.