Brazil's top prosecutor has found evidence that a bribe scheme involving local engineering firms and the state oil company extended to pension funds and a workers' fund, benefiting the ruling Workers' Party and allies, newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported on Friday. The paper said the potential new front in Brazil's largest-ever corruption investigation was... Continue Reading →
Shell’s BG Deal Gets Backing of Shareholder Advisory Firm
Royal Dutch Shell Plc has won the backing for its takeover of BG Group Plcfrom a body that advises many of its largest shareholders. Shell’s biggest ever deal has “compelling strategic rationale” and “significant positive economics to be realized within a relatively short time frame,” Institutional Shareholder Services said in a report dated Thursday. “Support for... Continue Reading →
Brazil prosecutors study text messages to Rousseff aide, Petrobras CEO: paper
Brazilian prosecutors are investigating text messages from an engineering executive that may show President Dilma Rousseff's chief of staff favored construction firms that donated to his party while he was state governor, the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported on Thursday. A separate set of messages from the same executive may indicate Aldemir Bendine, chief... Continue Reading →
Internal investigation of Brazil’s Eletrobras expands – source
An internal investigation of potential corruption at Brazil's state-run energy utility Eletrobras has expanded to include five more Brazilian hydroelectric dams, a source with access to the probe said. Lawyers investigating possible violations of U.S. and Brazilian anti-corruption laws hope to finish their work in March in order to deliver a delayed financial report to... Continue Reading →
Oil Producers Have $100 Billion Wiped Out in Worst Start to Year
Crude’s plunge keeps piling on the bad news for oil producers, who are having the worst start to a year on record. More than $100 billion has been wiped off the 61-company Bloomberg World Oil & Gas Index this year as it plunged to the lowest since August 2004. It has dropped 5.6 percent, making... Continue Reading →
Statoil Sees Risk of Deeper Slump as Oil Touches 12-Year Low
Statoil ASA, Norway’s biggest energy company, said an oil rout that’s pushed prices to a 12-year low may still get worse. “It could go even lower, and it just underlines the uncertainty,” Chief Executive Officer Eldar Saetre said in an interview in Oslo. “We still have a situation with an imbalance in the market.” West... Continue Reading →
OPEC Crude Oil Plunges Below $30 for First Time Since 2004
The price of crude sold by OPEC members slid below $30 a barrel, the lowest level in almost 12 years, as turmoil in Chinese markets deepened the global commodities rout. The daily basket price of crudes produced by the 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries fell to $29.71 a barrel on Wednesday,... Continue Reading →
Latin America to Stagnate on Venezuela, Brazil, World Bank Says
Latin America’s economy will stagnate in 2016 as commodity-dependent countries such as Brazil and Venezuela drag down the entire region, offsetting a positive performance in Mexico, the World Bank forecast. Output in Latin America and the Caribbean will be flat this year, down from a 2.1 percent growth forecast last June, according to the World... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s UTC renegotiates debt in midst of scandal
Wed Jan 6, 2016 Reuters Jan 6 Brazilian engineering firm UTC Engenharia S.A. has renegotiated 1.2 billion reais ($300 million) of debt with banks, the first engineering firm caught in a massive construction scandal to do so, newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported on Wednesday. After a year of negotiations, four banks agreed to extend... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Lula summoned to testify in bribery case
Mon Jan 4, 2016 Brazil's Lula summoned to testify in bribery case Reuters Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reacts during a meeting with Rio de Janeiro's Governor Luiz Fernando Pezao in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil December 3, 2015. REUTERS/RICARDO MORAES Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was summoned to testify... Continue Reading →
Brazil Energy Insight 