If there is one thing the oil world's chief prognosticators can agree on, it is that global demand is going up by more than a million barrels a day this year. Both the International Energy Agency and the Energy Information Administration put growth at about 1.4 million barrels a day; OPEC has it at 1.2... Continue Reading →
Former director of Sete Brasil confirms sharing kickbacks with the PT Party and Petrobras director Duque
July 20, 2016 In testimony given on Tuesday (19), to federal judge Sergio Moro, the former CEO of Sete Brasil, João Carlos Ferraz, confirmed of sharing fees charged to shipyards hired by the company, with the former PT treasurer, John Vaccari Neto, with the former director of Petrobras, Renato Duque, and also former Sete... Continue Reading →
The Future of Big Oil? At Shell, It’s Not Oil
At Australia’s Curtis Island, you can see Big Oil morphing into Big Gas. Just off the continent’s rugged northeastern coast lies a 667-acre liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal owned by Royal Dutch Shell, an engineering feat of staggering complexity. Gas from more than 2,500 wells travels hundreds of miles by pipeline to the island, where... Continue Reading →
Banks reject initial bids on Odebrecht Peru pipeline
Three initial offers on Odebrecht SA's 55 percent stake in a $5 billion natural gas pipeline contract in Peru were rejected by the banks that would finance the project, a Peruvian business news website reported on Tuesday. The banks took issue with two separate proposals by Brookfield Asset Management Inc and Ferrovial SA that would... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Odebrecht puts Braskem stake as collateral for loans
Braskem SA said on Tuesday controlling shareholder Odebrecht Serviços e Participações SA has placed the entire stake it has in the firm as collateral for outstanding bank loans, in a sign of Odebrecht's challenging debt refinancing outlook. No details on the accord between Odebrecht Serviços, a subsidiary of Grupo Odebrecht SA [ODBES.UL], and lenders were... Continue Reading →
Peru diversifies crude imports with purchases from Brazil, U.S.
Peru has started expanding the sources of its crude imports, slowly introducing U.S. and Brazilian grades to a slate mostly based on oil from Ecuador, Africa and Trinidad and Tobago, according to Thomson Reuters Trade Flows data. The numbers show Peru has joined the growing list of Latin American countries increasing purchases of U.S. light... Continue Reading →
Corruption probe implicates Brazil’s development bank -report
Money from a public investment fund financed by payroll deductions was irregularly used to capitalize Brazil's BNDES development bank, according to leaked plea deal testimony from a wide-reaching corruption probe published in O Globo. According to the report published on Saturday, FI-FGTS, the investment arm of Brazil's public severance fund, allegedly transferred 17 billion reais... Continue Reading →
In Brazil, Another Shipyard Goes Bust as Work Returns to Asia
If there’s one industry where all of Brazil’s political and economic upheavals come together, it’s shipbuilding. A Rio de Janeiro shipyard, where suspended president Dilma Rousseff once promised to employ an army of welders, electricians and engineers to make offshore oil platforms, is all but shut. Every other day, 50 workers on average hand in... Continue Reading →
Brazil Has Its Own Iron Lady, and She Won’t Be Giving You a Loan
The new leader of Brazil’s development bank is bolstering confidence in the government’s efforts to revive the economy by pledging to shrink the lender’s size. BNDES, as the bank is known, is curtailing subsidized credit for Brazil’s biggest companies to focus on financing private-public partnerships and smaller businesses that would otherwise have trouble getting loans.... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s foreign minister warns against overappreciation of real
Brazilian Foreign Minister Jose Serra warned against the excessive appreciation of the country's currency as it could hurt exporters, revealing concerns in the interim government that a stronger real could further sink an economy mired in recession. In an interview late on Thursday, which also included written answers to questions from Reuters, Serra said the... Continue Reading →
Brazil Energy Insight 