Energy & Oil

• Tuesday, May 17th 2011 - 15:35 UTC

  Brazilian banks and funds create company to build deep-water rigs for Petrobras

  

  A group of Brazilian banks and funds have created a company called Sete Brasil that will build seven deep-water rigs for state-run oil company Petrobras offshore exploration campaign, Petrobras announced on Monday.

• Tuesday, May 17th 2011 - 00:38 UTC

  Overwhelming majority of Chileans reject hydroelectric project in Patagonia

  

  Opposition to the HydroAysén dam and power line project grew throughout Chile this past week in the wake of massive demonstrations protesting the project’s approval on Monday May 9 in southern Chile.

• Friday, May 13th 2011 - 13:55 UTC

  Brazilian president still recovering from pneumonia cancels trip to Paraguay

  

  Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff cancelled on medical advice Sunday’s trip to Asunción where she was scheduled to participate in the bicentennial celebrations of Paraguay’s independence.

• Friday, May 13th 2011 - 05:15 UTC

  Power outage knocks out Venezuelan refinery complex, one of the world’s largest

  

  A power fault hit Venezuela's main refinery centre on Thursday, stopping the 310,000 barrel-per-day Cardon facility and partially halting the 645,000-bpd Amuay installation, a source at state oil company PDVSA said.

• Thursday, May 12th 2011 - 06:32 UTC

  BP ups its stake in Brazil’s oil industry and will participate in September’s round

  

  British Petroleum is negotiating opportunities to buy stakes in oil fields in Brazil to accelerate production increases, the head of the company's Brazil division said on Wednesday.

• Wednesday, May 11th 2011 - 13:42 UTC

  Interest in Falklands oil exploration “on the increase” at AAPG

  

  INTEREST in the Falkland Islands, “is on the increase,” said Director of Mineral Resources Phyllis Rendell who recently attended the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) in Houston.

• Wednesday, May 11th 2011 - 01:34 UTC

  Fearing US reaction, Cuba makes public full-scale offshore oil exploration plans

  

  Cuba hopes to counter US worries over its plans to start its first full-scale offshore oil exploration in a rare presentation this week to an energy audience outside the island.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2011 - 22:38 UTC

  YPF makes large shale oil discovery, equivalent to 6% of Argentina’s reserves

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced on Tuesday that YPF energy company had made a large shale oil discovery in Neuquén province, a find that she considered to be of extreme importance, since “it will allow for us to maintain and further promote development” throughout the country.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2011 - 10:25 UTC

  Another major blackout leaves western Venezuela ‘totally affected’

  

  Venezuela restored early Tuesday 90% of power knocked out by a blackout Monday that hit 10 states in the western part of the country. This is the second major power failure in just over a month.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2011 - 09:50 UTC

  Chilean protestors clash with police as regulators approve five-dam project in Patagonia

  

  Chile approved on Monday the construction of a hydroelectric project that would flood Patagonian valleys and become the country’s biggest power generator, sparking violent protests.