
Premier Oil has updated progress on the Sea Lion project, the first field development offshore the Falkland Islands. Latest subsurface studies suggest recoverable reserves for the Phase 1 development at 308 MMbbl, with further upside of 60 MMbbl if next year’s well on the Chatham prospect confirms that there is no gas cap in the western side of the field.

The 100th anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal, hailed at the time as one of the world's great wonders, has inspired a celebration in central US state Florida to showcase the experience of the US canal workers behind the engineering feat.

The day after Pfizer Inc’s patent for Viagra expired in Brazil, Carlos Sanchez flooded pharmacies with his generic erectile dysfunction pills. It was a day his army of lawyers, researchers and marketers had been preparing for more than three years, even winning a bid to move up the patent’s expiration date.

Debt talks on Argentina’s defaulted bonds in the hands of holdout hedge funds ultimately collapsed this week due to disagreements over prices and the absence of a government guarantee to honor payments on the paper, sources close to the discussions said.

George Soros’s 28 billion family office boosted its stake in YPF SA, making Argentina’s largest oil company its biggest U.S.-traded stock holding in the second quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC added 8.47 million shares of YPF, according to a regulatory filing Thursday, bringing its total position to 3.5% of the company’s American depositary receipts.

Argentina's government will use an anti-terrorism law for the first time to seek criminal charges against a U.S.-based international printing firm which closed its Argentine plant without warning, president Cristina Fernández said on Thursday. She linked the company to some of the hedge funds in litigation with Argentina over defaulted bonds.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) will hold an auction on August 21 to settle Argentina’s default swaps. The auction, run by Creditex and Markit, will determine the payout that holders of protection on Argentine debt (CDS) will receive as a result of the default on July 30.

The US dollar in Argentine money markets continued its rising path on Thursday with a new record climb to close at 13.20 Pesos. This so-called “blue” dollar had jumped 20 cents to 13.15 pesos on Wednesday, breaking its 13.06 Pesos record from 23 January.

July consumer prices index in Argentina according to the so called Congressional index, climbed 2,47% and 39.71% in the last twelve months. The same index marked 2.2% in June indicating a growing tendency.

Chile has become a single territory for telecommunications and long distance calls with different rates for fixed lines will no longer exist beginning Saturday. This in practical terms will also means a 50% reduction on normal phone calls.