Investments

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 23:12 UTC

  Argentine oil company finds way to invest in Vaca Muerta and elude legal action from Repsol

  

  One day after the Argentine government extended the deadline to legalize undeclared cash, energy company Bridas International gave new life to the BAADE energy bonds, the most relegated portion of the whitewash scheme, by saying it would snap up 500 million dollars of the paper.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 19:36 UTC

  Falklands’ ‘FOGL and Desire Combination’ prepare to drill five wells next year

  

  Falkland Oil & Gas is to buy a smaller Falklands-based firm to create a “combination” company with licences to search for oil both to the north and south of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. FOGL said on Thursday it had agreed to buy Desire Petroleum offering 0.6 FOGL “consideration” shares for each Desire share, in a deal valuing Desire at 61 million pounds (99 million dollars).

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 19:29 UTC

  Collapse of a 35bn dollars empire; Brazil’s Eike Batista defaulted on 45 million interest payment

  

  Two days ago, former Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista crossed a line. He started to default on a 45 million dollars interest payments on his oil and gas company, OGX's, bonds. The default will be official on October 30th, according to Bloomberg. That leaves bondholders, like PIMCO, the largest bond fund in the world helmed by legendary investor Bill Gross, taking a massive hit. And what's worse is that there could be more to come, according to the Wall Street Journal.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 07:09 UTC

  Argentina will challenge Uruguay’s decision to expand pulp mill production at The Hague Court of Justice

  

  Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman has confirmed that Argentina will go before the international court of justice at The Hague over the decision of Uruguayan president José Mujica, who on Wednesday authorised increased production at the UPM (ex-Botnia) paper plant.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 06:54 UTC

  Russian oil giant wants to sell stake in Orinoco project and get out of Venezuela

  

  Lukoil, Russia's second-biggest oil producer wants to sell its stake in a Russian consortium developing a large oil project in Venezuela because it is not a high priority, Lukoil's head said on Wednesday.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 22:51 UTC

  Brazil oil and gas output reached an average of 2.495 million boepd during August

  

  Brazil's oil and natural gas output rose for the second time in three months in August as new output from giant offshore fields barely outpaced declines from the depletion of older areas and maintenance, oil industry watchdog ANP said this week.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 07:47 UTC

  German premium automakers dispute Brazilian market: Mercedes plans factory in Sao Paulo

  

  Germany's Daimler plans to build a new car factory in Brazil, becoming the third German premium automaker to announce such plans within the past year. The company announced it would invest around 170 million Euros to set up a shop in Iracemapolis, near Sao Paulo.

• Tuesday, October 1st 2013 - 06:46 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez and Mujica in a prudent silence over the pulp mill controversy

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernández met on Monday with her Uruguayan counterpart José Mujica after the pair inaugurated a new vessel belonging to the ferry company Buquebús, (which joins Montevideo with Buenos Aires), in order to discuss matters related to the controversial UPM pulp plant formerly known as Botnia.

• Monday, September 30th 2013 - 22:06 UTC

  Barrick Gold Pascua-Lama project again running after court ruling

  

  Chile's Supreme Court confirmed a freeze on Barrick Gold Corp's suspended Pascua-Lama gold mine but the Toronto-based miner escaped having the project's environmental permit revoked. The ruling dispels a significant uncertainty surrounding the controversial project, which now essentially has to complete a water management system issued by the environmental regulator to likely be re-activated.

• Monday, September 30th 2013 - 21:40 UTC

  The Shale Boom, Just Getting Started: Interview with Tyler Cowen

  

  Thanks to the shale boom, markets already perceive the trade balance optimizing, energy prices are cheaper than they would otherwise be and we've even cut carbon emissions. And we are only getting started, according Tyler Cowen, New York Times best-selling author and one of the most influential economists of the decade.