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Brazil's largest-ever corruption scandal threatens to slow down preparations for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next year as it engulfs construction companies responsible for the lion's share of projects worth around $12 billion. Prosecutors investigating the scandal at state-run oil firm Petrobras have implicated more than 20 companies, including five that are working... Continue Reading →
OPEC crude output declined this month as Iraqi production slipped from a record in June. Output by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decreased 362,000 barrels to 32.107 million a day this month, according to a Bloomberg survey of oil companies, producers and analysts. Last month’s total was revised 335,000 barrels higher, to 32.469 million... Continue Reading →
Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., the biggest U.S. energy producers, hunkered down for a prolonged stretch of weak prices after posting their worst quarterly performances in several years. Exxon reported its lowest profit since 2009 as crude prices fell twice as fast as the world’s largest crude producer by market value could slash expenses.... Continue Reading →
Petroleo Brasileiro SA is seeking to recover as much as 6.2 billion reais ($1.8 billion) lost as part of Brazil’s biggest corruption scandal. The world’s most indebted oil company announced today the recovery of 139 million reais from the scandal, in a ceremony with the country’s prosecutor general ahead of the year-and-a-half-long investigation. In 2014,... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff is intensifying efforts to patch up political relationships as talk of her impeachment gathers strength and she braces for renewed protests in August. Accompanied by her vice president and select ministers, Rousseff began meeting with governors in Brasilia on Thursday afternoon. She used her opening remarks to ask them to support... Continue Reading →
The arrest of the longtime head of Brazil's nuclear energy utility on corruption charges could disrupt a plan to revive Brazilian nuclear ambitions whose roots go back to its atomic-bomb program in the 1980s. Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva, a retired admiral, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly taking 4.5 million reais ($1.35 million) in... Continue Reading →
NEW YORK, July 30 (IFR) - Struggling Brazil took another blow to the chin this week when S&P put the country's BBB- credit rating on negative outlook, setting the stage for a potential downgrade to junk. The other agencies could soon follow S&P's lead, as the government of President Dilma Rousseff fails to get to... Continue Reading →
Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it’s preparing for a “prolonged downturn” by cutting thousands of jobs and slashing billions of dollars in investments over the next two years. The shares gained the most in almost six months. The company, which in April said it was confident prices would return to $90 a barrel in three... Continue Reading →
A new note from Macquarie's Vikas Dwivedi underscores the challenge now facing offshore projects, saying "Offshore projects even more at risk than U.S. shale." Why? Because the projects' break-even points are much higher, given all the investment that goes into them. Read More
When Marcelo Odebrecht was transferred to prison last week after his company was charged with cheating Petrobras out of R$6.4bn ($1.9bn), he became the latest member of Brazil’s elite to be sucked into the country’s biggest-ever corruption scandal — and also one of the most unusual. The 47-year-old is president and chief executive of Odebrecht — the Brazilian... Continue Reading →
