
In an effort to handle its overdue debts, Venezuela is all but giving away oil assets. President Nicolás Maduro is reportedly so desperate to pay the US$ 3.7 billion in debts that he is selling off the assets to Russia.

US cinema star Brad Pitt has been invited by the Ecuadorian government to observe the pollution in the country's Amazon region allegedly caused by Chevron. President Rafael Correa announced the invitation in his regular weekend report, saying that the oil giant is in preparation of spearheading a film with the movie star about an alleged case against the company.

YPF SA and Petroliam Nasional Bhd, state-controlled companies from Argentina and Malaysia, signed a 550 million dollars deal to drill fields at the world’s fourth-largest shale oil deposit in Patagonia’s Vaca Muerta, south Argentina.

Chevron Corporation announced on Tuesday that the Hess Corporation-operated Tubular Bells deepwater project, located in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, has started crude oil and natural gas production. The field is located 217 km southeast of New Orleans, in approximately 1,310 m of water in the Mississippi Canyon area.

The United States Chargé d'Affaires at the Embassy In Buenos Aires Kevin Sullivan, who is in charge of the embassy on an interim basis, praised Argentina’s agreement with Paris Club, ICSID and YPF-Repsol deal, saying “the situation is changing, in a good way” and pointing out a change in investment climate.

Argentina has won the geological lottery with its 305 meters-thick Vaca Muerta shale oil and gas field in Patagonia, a spokesman for Chevron said on Thursday, as the U.S. energy giant increases its investments in the country. The company and state-owned oil firm YPF announced plans last month to invest an additional 1.6 billion to develop Vaca Muerta.

United States sided with Spain's Repsol position in the dispute over the seizure of a majority stake in YPF by the administration of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez last year, a dispute which remains unresolved over compensation for the assets.

A former Ecuadorean judge who presided over a pollution case against Chevron Corp. (CVX) testified that he and a colleague who issued a 19 billion judgment against the company in the environmental lawsuit were bribed.

Chevron Corp will try to convince a US judge that a group of Ecuadorean villagers and their US lawyer used bribery to win a 18 billion dollars judgment against Chevron from a court in Ecuador, in the latest chapter in a long-running fight over pollution in the Amazon jungle.

Brazil is limiting Chinese state-controlled oil companies to joint bids to develop its largest offshore oil discovery, amid concerns the players could share data and reduce competition ahead of the 21 October auction, said Brazilian officials.