
Uruguay government owned oil company ANCAP contracted the international company Fugro for the provision of geophysical services covering a complete aero-magnetic survey of the River Plate area and Atlantic Ocean where Uruguay is about to launch a hydrocarbons exploratory round.

Latin America's biggest company, Brazilian state-managed oil giant Petrobras, on Friday said it raked in a record net profit last year of 20 billion US dollars. That figure for 2010 was 17% higher than its profit for 2009 company executives told a news conference in Rio de Janeiro.

China's Sinopec Corp said it planned to participate in Brazil's next oil and gas bidding rounds, which should be resumed after the passage of a reform of the country's oil law expected this year.

Rockhopper Exploration plc (AIM: RKH), the North Falkland Basin oil and gas exploration company, announces that the 14/10-4 appraisal well was spudded at 0040hrs GMT on 19 February 2011.

Repsol-YPF planned exploration for hydrocarbons in the Malvinas basin, off Tierra del Fuego has suffered a major public relations setback following on the Buenos Aires press revelation that the two vessels contracted for the job not only are UK flagged but also have links with the current oil exploration round in Falkland Islands’ waters.

Some of the world’s leading oil companies turned up at the Uruguay Round II informative session for operators interested in participating in the biding process for offshore exploration in Uruguay’s South Atlantic.

A well drilled by Rockhopper Exploration off the Falkland Islands struck a good quality reservoir that bodes well for further development in the area announced the UK explorer in a release.

Based on market capitalization Brazilian government managed oil and gas company Petrobras ranked third worldwide according to the prestigious PFC Energy 50 list of the world's biggest energy companies.

Venezuela holds 297 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, most of it in tar sands but sufficient to be ahead of Saudi Arabia considered by world experts the number one country in reserves.

Brazil’s production of oil and natural gas in December 2010 surpassed the previous one-month record, according to a release from the ANP regulatory agency. December 2010 oil output of 2.18 million barrels per day represents a 4.4% increase over November and was 9.1% higher than in December 2009.