Stricter legal and regulatory scrutiny may slow mergers and acquisitions in Brazil this year, compounding the impact of a harsh recession and lingering political turmoil that is keeping buyers and sellers at odds over valuations, bankers and lawyers said. In recent months, trade unions and citizen advocacy groups have increased pressure on industry watchdogs and... Continue Reading →

  FPSO operator BW Offshore has signed an agreement with its insurers for an early repair cost settlement for the FPSO Cidade de São Mateus damaged in an explosion in 2015, which killed nine workers.  At the time of the incident, the FPSO was operating for the Brazilian oil company Petrobras on the Camarupim and... Continue Reading →

  PetroRio announced an agreement to acquire an additional interest of approximately 29.21 percent in Brasoil do Brasil Exploração Petrolífera, according to a press release. With the stake acquired from the Brascan Petroleum, Gas and Energy Fund, PetroRio will now hold a total stake in Brasoil of 52.40 percent. On March 21, PetroRio had announced... Continue Reading →

Exxon Mobil Corp and Rex Tillerson agreed to sever all ties to comply with conflict-of-interest requirements as the company's former chairman and chief executive awaits confirmation as U.S. secretary of state. If his appointment is confirmed, the value of more than 2 million deferred Exxon Mobil shares (worth about $182 million at Tuesday's closing price)... Continue Reading →

No honor among….. The large contractors investigated by the Lava Jato discovered corruption schemes within their own structures of corruption. That is to say: a kind of deviation of the deviation. Large contractors, among them Odebrecht, began to identify cases where officials responsible for paying the kickback ended up pocketing some of the money, diverted... Continue Reading →

  Jan 2 The office of Peru's attorney general announced on Monday that it has asked Odebrecht for a "significant sum" of money as a precondition to negotiating a plea deal after the Brazilian company acknowledged bribing unnamed Peruvian officials. Hamilton Castro, the lead prosecutor investigating Odebrecht, added that he expects to obtain the names... Continue Reading →

Valor Econômico 2 Jan, 2017. Renato Rostás and Rodrigo Polito RICH PRESS / BLOOMBERG Debate about local content rules divides industry and oil operators On the one hand, oil companies want changes; on the other hand, companies ask for more time. Equipment manufacturers claim to have invested $ 60 billion since the discovery of the... Continue Reading →

President Michel Temer of Brazil is in choppy waters, four months after the impeachment of his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff. His majority in Congress has shown signs of crumbling, his bill to cap spending passed the Senate by a much-narrower-than-expected margin, and some leaders in his own coalition are publicly voicing discontent. On and off protests over... Continue Reading →

Thu Dec 29, 2016  Brazil's government is considering simplifying the tax regime of the oil and gas industry as well as changes to levies on the financial system as part of a broad tax reform in 2017, a government source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. "These are the general ideas of what... Continue Reading →