Bolivia is forecasting a 17% fall in its hydrocarbons tax and royalties revenues because of the fall in the international price of gas and oil sold to Argentina and Brazil according to official reports.
Colombian state-owned oil company Ecopetrol S.A. said Tuesday it signed an agreement with US-based Anadarko Petroleum Coporation to explore for crude oil off the coast of Brazil. Ecopetrol's subsidiary in Brazil will hold a 50% stake in block BMC-29, the company said in a statement.
The Brazilian government is planning to offer a financing package worth one billion US dollars for industrial projects in Paraguay, local financial newspaper Valor Economico reported this week. According to the newspaper, which cited unnamed sources, the financing will be offered through Brazil's National Development Bank, or BNDES.
The Uruguayan government has modified the bidding terms for offshore oil and gas exploration and exploitation, given the dramatic fall in oil prices and the deepening global economic crisis.
Oil and gas company Geopark which operates in the extreme south of Chile announced this week it had reached a daily extraction of a million cubic metres of natural gas, equivalent to 20% of Chilean production, making her the country’s largest private producer.
A huge project involving 300 million US dollars for the exploitation of coal deposits in the extreme south Chilean Magallanes Region was officially presented in Punta Arenas this week by Energy Minister Marcelo Tokman and top officials from the two companies involved in the project.
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez agreed Monday to deepen ties in energy, investment and trade, with Japanese companies ready to participate in gas and crude production in the Latin American country.
The consortium formed by Brazil’s government managed oil and corporation Petrobras (63%, operator) and Spain’s Repsol (37%) has delivered a Declaration of Commercial Viability for a light oil and gas discovery made in reservoirs located above the salt layer, in block BM-S-7, in the Santos Basin.
How much access western energy firms win to Brazil’s vast offshore oil fields hinges on complex political currents in the country – and how well the companies navigate these, argues Juliet Hepker.
United States Apache Corporation announced this week that the Argentine Patagonian province of Neuquen has agreed to extend eight federal oil and gas concessions for 10 additional years.