House of Cards cannot compete with this live drama.... Brazilian President Michel Temer gave his blessing to an attempt to pay a potential witness to remain silent in the country's biggest-ever graft probe, according to plea bargain testimony by a powerful businessman, newspaper O Globo reported on Wednesday. Temer's office on Wednesday acknowledged he had... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s central bank says will act to keep markets functioning properly
Brazil's central bank said on Thursday it was monitoring the impact of media reports that President Michel Temer gave his blessing to efforts to bribe a potential witness in a major graft probe and it would act to keep markets functioning properly. "The Central Bank is monitoring the information recently released by the media and... Continue Reading →
Brazil Markets Sink, Triggering Circuit Breaker on Fresh Crisis
Brazilian markets plunged in early trading as a fresh political crisis ensnared President Michel Temer and threatened to derail a reform agenda that had helped restore confidence in the embattled South American nation. Futures of the benchmark Ibovespa gauge plunged 10 percent, and futures of the real hit circuit breaker limits after sinking 6 percent.... Continue Reading →
Exclusive: Petrobras turnaround could yield first dividend in years in 2017
Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petrobras will pay its first shareholder dividend in three years if the company turns a profit in 2017, Chief Executive Officer Pedro Parente said on Wednesday. Parente took the helm of the world's most indebted energy company a year ago and said he is ahead of schedule with an aggressive restructuring... Continue Reading →
JBS chairman taped Brazil president discussing hush money: O Globo
The chairman of meatpacking giant JBS SA secretly recorded his discussion with Brazilian President Michel Temer about payments to jailed former House Speaker Eduardo Cunha in return for his silence, newspaper O Globo reported on Wednesday. The paper reported, without saying how it obtained the information, that JBS Chairman Joesley Batista and his brother, Chief... Continue Reading →
Oil-Service IPOs Blow Past Explorers as Industry Charts Recovery
An improving oil and gas industry has turned the market for energy initial public offerings upside down. Oil-service providers are at the top of IPO rankings in 2017, elbowing aside exploration-and-production companies for the first time in at least a decade. Those companies had made up the majority of annual energy listings for the 10... Continue Reading →
ANP will stimulate participation of investment funds in the auctions
The National Petroleum Agency (ANP) will adopt measures to stimulate the participation of investment funds in the upcoming auctions of oil areas. According to the Director General of the agency, Décio Oddone. Among the measures will be the reduction of companies' capital requirements for participation and simplification of practices for consortium formation. - We... Continue Reading →
Petrobras – Clarification on preemptive right in the pre-salt layer
Rio de Janeiro, May 16, 2017 – Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras, in relation to the reports in the media about Petrobras’ preferential rights to act as operator in the areas offered in auctions for exploration and production in the pre-salt layer, clarifies that its technical staff is evaluating the possibility and the interest of... Continue Reading →
Brazil electoral court to take up case that may annul 2014 election
Here we go again..... The head of Brazil's top electoral court said on Tuesday that justices would again next month take up a case that could annul the 2014 election on charges of illegal campaign financing and even unseat President Michel Temer. Justice Gilmar Mendes, who also sits on Brazil's supreme court, said the trial... Continue Reading →
Heerema to build jacket for Statoil’s Peregrino II project
Dutch contractor Heerema Fabrication Group has been awarded a procurement and construction contract for the Peregrino II jacket by South Atlantic Holding B.V. on behalf of the Statoil Peregrino II project off Brazil. The Peregrino field – discovered in 1994 – is a heavy oil field, situated in the South and South West section of the... Continue Reading →