Investments

• Saturday, August 3rd 2013 - 01:41 UTC

  EU FTA agreements with Colombia and Central America became effective August first

  

  Free trade agreements, FTA, signed by the European Union with Colombia, and with Central American countries Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama became effective August first as part of the EU strategy to eliminate tariffs on trade with Central American and the Andean region.

• Friday, August 2nd 2013 - 03:26 UTC

  Brazil's Rousseff announces billions to improve Sao Paulo transport system

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff moved quickly this week to improve bus services in the metropolis of Sao Paulo, where protests over a fare increase in June triggered an outburst of national discontent that battered her popularity and questioned the country’s infrastructure for two major world events in 2014 and 2016.

• Friday, August 2nd 2013 - 03:01 UTC

  Argentina’s energy challenges according to The Economist: Flogging a dead cow

  

  The Economist in its latest printed edition addresses Argentina’s challenges in the energy field including the seizure of a majority stake in YPF from Spain’s Repsol and the latest agreement with US oil company Chevron to exploit shale oil and gas.

• Friday, August 2nd 2013 - 02:42 UTC

  Euro rates to remain unchanged for extended period of time, says ECB

  

  The European Central Bank left interest rates at a record low 0.5% on Thursday and said that they will remain there for some while to come and could yet fall further. ECB President Mario Draghi hinted that policy would not be tightened until well into next year at the earliest, although the central bank will give no time horizon for when rates might move.

• Wednesday, July 31st 2013 - 16:28 UTC

  Norwegian company converts fresh seaweed to dry powder for alginates in 24 hours

  

  Norwegian company FMC Biopolymer converts seaweed to alginate for use in thousands of products with an advanced 24 hour chemical process. ABB has supplied process automation, motors and drives to FMC Biopolymer for more than 20 years.

• Wednesday, July 31st 2013 - 05:35 UTC

  Falklands' Sea Lion project outstands in Premier Oil exploration opportunities

  

  Premier Oil, the British North Sea's oldest company outside the oil majors, is turning away from the region for future exploration opportunities such as the Catcher and the Sea Lion project in the Falkland Islands, according to a report published by Reuters.

• Wednesday, July 31st 2013 - 05:26 UTC

  Canadian town evicts oil sands companies that helped it grow

  

  The Canadian town of Fort McMurray, population 76,000, is the heart of Alberta's oil sands largesse--but the town is bursting at its seams with nowhere to expand because the land surrounding it is owned by oil companies.

• Tuesday, July 30th 2013 - 03:50 UTC

  “The party is over” for Latam countries China-dependent on their exports

  

  “The party is over” and Latinamerican countries should be concerned since the Chinese economy is slowing down, apparently entering a low growth period and many in the region have become notoriously ‘China-dependent’ after a decade of strong expanding sustained bilateral relations.

• Saturday, July 27th 2013 - 10:18 UTC

  Six key Oil & Gas discoveries of 2013: who's worth owning?

  

  By OilPrice.com Premium Analysts - The pace of oil and gas exploration is frightening, and discoveries are weekly, if not daily, with volumes investors would only have dreamt of a decade ago. With each new discovery, it becomes difficult to keep track of the playing field, and even more difficult to rank the potential.

• Saturday, July 27th 2013 - 05:11 UTC

  Repsol takes YPF/Chevron deal to World Bank’s Investment Disputes Centre

  

  Spanish oil company Repsol asked the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) to take provisional measures to prevent YPF state-owned oil company to execute the deal it sealed with Chevron last year to explore for unconventional hydrocarbons in the Vaca Muerta shale formation.