Ecuador spoke out against the European Union's policy on migration during the General Assembly's annual high-level debate Tuesday, stressing the need to protect the right of people to move freely.
The European Commission fined on Wednesday nine petrochemical companies a total of 676 million Euros for forming a paraffin mafia to fix prices and carve up markets for wax.
Brazil's largest sugar and ethanol cooperative Copersucar said on Wednesday it had become a company and plans to triple its production in the next ten years. Founded in 1959 Copersucar expanded operations and became one of the world's biggest private exporters of sugar and ethanol.
Drilling preparatory work is continuing in licenced areas to the South and East of the Falkland Islands announced Falkland Oil and Gas Limited (FOGL) in its interim results for the six months ending June 2008.
Brazil's oil and gas government managed corporation Petrobras announced the proven presence of oil in a well south of the Santos Basin, in sandy reservoirs above the salt layer. The discovery confirms the good light oil potential in the shallow water portion of the basin, said Petrobras in a brief release from last Friday.
Chile is exploring for methane gas from the abundant coal reserves in the extreme south region of Magallanes, more precisely 80 kilometers to the north of Punta Arenas.
China and Venezuela signed on Wednesday in Beijing a wide range of agreements to boost trade, energy cooperation and agriculture and in other fields. The agreements were signed by Chinese Vice Premier Li Kegiang and visiting Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
China Oilfield Services Limited China's largest integrated oilfield services provider in offshore China, COSL announced this week it had successfully completed the 2.5 billion US dollars acquisition of the Norwegian offshore drilling company Awilco Offshore ASA .
OPEC President Chakib Khelil said on Wednesday world oil prices were still being influenced by factors such as monetary and currency policy in the United States and speculation rather than market fundamentals.
Noble Corporation confirmed its subsidiary, Noble Drilling Holding LLC, has signed contracts for the construction of a new, dynamically positioned, ultra-deepwater, harsh environment Globetrotter class drill-ship with South Korea's STX Heavy Industries and Dutch-based design and construction firm Huisman Equipment.