(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Connecticut-based trading house Freepoint Commodities over whether payments to employees of Brazil's state-run oil company broke U.S. laws, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters this week. The criminal probe, which is being led by prosecutors in Washington, complements a separate, ongoing bribery investigation into... Continue Reading →
Keppel receives request for arbitration in $42.5M dispute
Two of Keppel Offshore and Marine Limited’s wholly-owned subsidiaries have received a request for arbitration from an unnamed company for two FPSO contracts. Singapore’s conglomerate Keppel Corporation said in an SGX filing that the contracts in question were engineering, procurement, and construction contracts relating to floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) units. According to the company, the... Continue Reading →
Seadrill hammers out plan to cut debt by $5 billion and raise $350 million
Bankrupt offshore drilling contractor Seadrill Limited has hammered out a reorganisation plan with its consenting lenders, which will allow it to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Seadrill expects to get approval for the plan in early November 2021. To remind, Seadrill filed for Chapter 11 in February 2021. Just last week, it was reported that... Continue Reading →
“We’ll vigorously defend,” Keppel Says After FPSO Arbitration Request
Singapore-based Keppel Offshore and Marine subsidiaries have been slapped with a request for arbitration from an unnamed counterparty in relation to contracts for the delivery of Floating, Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessels. Keppel said this week that the unnamed claimant had withheld $11.3 million due to Keppel's subsidiaries under the FPSO engineering, procurement, and construction... Continue Reading →
ANP APPROVES DECOMMISSIONING GUARANTEES OF CAMPO DE LAPA
(PetroleoHoje) The ANP board approved the guarantee instrument presented by Total for the deactivation and abandonment of the Lapa field, in the Santos Basin. Thus, the French company is able to sign the amendment to the concession contract, assuming 45% of the field, in consortium with Shell (30%) and Repsol Sinopec (25%). In May 2020,... Continue Reading →
Buyers reportedly line-up for a crack at Seadrill
Noble Corp and a consortium that includes Transocean Ltd and Dolphin Drilling are competing to acquire the assets of Seadrill Ltd, the bankrupt offshore oil driller controlled by Norwegian-born tycoon John Fredriksen, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Seadrill is trying to emerge from its second U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy in four years:... Continue Reading →
Petrobras signs contract for the sale of the Papa-Terra Field
Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras, following up on the releases disclosed on 04/17/2020 and 11/24/2020, informs that it has signed with the company 3R Petroleum Offshore S.A. (3R Offshore) a contract for the sale of the totality of its participation in the Papa-Terra production field, located in the Campos Basin. The amount of the sale... Continue Reading →
Argentina Seeks Sanctions Against Oil Firms Drilling Near Disputed Falklands
Argentina's government has launched a process to sanction a number of foreign firms it accuses of illegally drilling for oil in a disputed area near the British-run Falkland Islands, over which the South American country also claims sovereignty. The country's energy secretary Darío Martínez told reporters on Wednesday it would seek sanctions against UK-based Chrysaor... Continue Reading →
Switzerland investigates Gunvor links to Ecuador oil trading
(Reuters) - Swiss prosecutors said on Wednesday they are investigating whether bribery, money laundering or other crimes linked to Ecuador oil trading were committed in Switzerland following a U.S. criminal case against an ex-Gunvor Group employee. U.S. prosecutors are investigating "the suspected bribery of Ecuadorian public officials and money laundering," the Swiss attorney general's office... Continue Reading →
Engineering Firm Wood to Pay $177M to Settle Amec Foster Wheeler’s Brazil Bribery Case
UK-based engineering firm John Wood Group, also known as Wood, on Monday said it had reached agreements with authorities in the UK, Brazil, and the U.S. to resolve their respective bribery and corruption investigations into the past use of third parties in the legacy Amec Foster Wheeler business. The U.S. Department of Justice last week... Continue Reading →