Uruguay's oil and energy Ancap must pay US $ 10 million to fuel distributors Petrobras and Axion after losing a 2017 lawsuit filed when the plaintiffs saw their profit margins narrowed by local regulations, the Montevideo El Observador newspaper reported.
Brazil's influential finance minister has convinced President Jair Bolsonaro to consider the once-unthinkable step of privatizing state-owned oil company Petrobras , but stiff political opposition could stifle any effort to sell the country's corporate crown jewel.
Brazil has privatized nearly US$ 20bn of assets and investments since the election of right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, according to a government minister. Secretary of state for privatization, divestment and markets Salim Mattar announced that the government’s sweeping program of privatization was going as planned.
The Brazilian oil company Petrobras has announced that in the coming months it will reduce its imports of Bolivian natural gas, which it still considers to be essential nonetheless.
Two Iranian ships stranded off the coast of Brazil for weeks set sail on Saturday, officials said, after a court ordered state oil giant Petrobras to fuel up the vessels. The bulk carriers had been stuck at Paranagua port in the southern state of Parana since early last month after Petrobras refused to provide fuel for fear of breaching US sanctions on Iran.
Brazil’s top court on Thursday ordered state-run oil company Petrobras to refuel two Iranian grain vessels stranded on the Brazilian coast due to U.S. sanctions holding up sales of fuel needed for their return trips.
Brazilian oil giant Petrobras says it’s already sold off its majority share in its fuel distribution branch, and hopes the total sale will raise about US$ 2.5 billion. Petrobras said on Wednesday it now has a 41.25% stake in the Petrobras Distribuidora unit, down from the 70% before the sale started Tuesday.
Two more Iranian bulk carriers that came to Brazil carrying urea and were expected to return home with corn could be left without enough fuel, as Brazil's Petrobras refuses to provide them with bunker fuel due to U.S. sanctions.
Two Iranian vessels have been stranded for weeks at Brazilian ports, unable to head back to Iran due to lack of fuel, which state-run oil firm Petrobras refuses to sell them due to sanctions imposed by the United States.
As the Uruguayan state has vowed to take over the administration of departing Montevideo cooking gas suppliers Montevideo Gas and Conecta and jobs have been secured, the UOEGAS workers' union has agreed to end the strike, starting this Friday.