UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres accused oil and gas companies of making excessive profits from the energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine, calling it immoral. Guterres, releasing a UN report on the consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, urged governments to tax the companies' earnings.
Argentina will pay for unforeseen increases in the cost of cooking gas following public outrage and opposition in Congress to stymie the plan which would have seen consumers paying increased gas prices in 24 installments from January 2019.
The outlook for commodities remains grim for this year, except that oil will fall a bit less than previously forecast, the World Bank said. Average prices for fuels such as crude, natural gas and coal will tumble 39% from 2014, while those for materials like metals and fertilisers will fall about 12%, the Washington-based lender said in its quarterly Commodity Markets Outlook released Wednesday.
Argentina's YPF oil and gas state corporation CEO Miguel Galuccio pointed out that the increase in gas prices is needed in order to sustain “strong investment levels” for the company and revealed that the cost of drilling a well in the country's massive oil field in Vaca Muerta has fallen below 7 million dollars.
Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff is reluctant to allow the country's oil corporation Petrobras to increase the price of fuels this year, which would have an immediate impact on gasoline, transport and inflation, according to Folha de Sao Paulo.
Governor Liliana Kusanovic, from the extreme south Chilean Magallanes region has resigned alleging the need to care for family affairs and denying any link with January’s gas prices strike which paralyzed the region for a week. Ms Kusanovic’s resignation, which belongs to the ruling coalition, was accepted and made public Monday.
Energy and Mining Minister Laurence Golborne insisted on the last proposal made by the Chilean government to stop manifestations which would imply a 3% increase in hydrocarbon.