BP Plc plans to cut 4,000 jobs in its crude-oil production division this year as prices trade near a 12-year low. The company will reduce its worldwide upstream workforce to less than 20,000, London-based spokesman David Nicholas said by phone. The cuts include 600 people working at North Sea projects: they’ll lose their positions over the... Continue Reading →
Petrobras gets waiver to boost output at Brazil RNEST refinery
Mon Jan 11, 2016 Reuters A flag of Brazil's state-run Petrobras oil company is pictured at a gas station in Mariana, Brazil, November 11, 2015. REUTERS/RICARDO MORAES Brazil's government-run oil company Petrobras got a waiver of pollution control requirements from the state of Pernambuco for its RNEST refinery, allowing it to boost output to 100,000... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Mounting Woes Threaten to Wipe Out Bond Rebound in 2016
Brazil’s stint as the most lucrative emerging-market bond investment may be short-lived, according to Aberdeen Asset Management Plc and Commerzbank AG. The country’s dollar-denominated notes returned 1.9 percent last week, the best performance among 60 developing nations tracked by Bloomberg. Still, the gains are just a reprieve from a rout last year that saddled bondholders with losses... Continue Reading →
Brazil Roiled by China Mess Shows Investors Can’t Catch a Break
For investors in Brazil battered by a terrible 2015, there was reason to believe January would provide a respite. With summer holidays in full gear and Congress in recess, developments in the political scandals that had roiled markets were put on hold. And then came China. Read more
Brazil bribe scheme may have extended to pension funds -paper
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 →
