Brought to you by Quest Offshore & Southern Cone Consultants
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 →
Brazilian federal police are investigating potential irregularities in a military program that aims to build a nuclear-powered submarine in partnership with France by 2023, newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported on Wednesday. Folha said police searched for documents that could prove their suspicions of fraud in the program. The search was part of a wider... Continue Reading →
Brazil will probably lose its investment-grade status from more than one rating agency by end-2016, according to most market participants polled by Reuters after S&P revised the country's outlook to negative on Tuesday. Twenty-three of the 28 respondents believe Standard & Poor's will downgrade Brazil's credit rating to junk status by the end of next... Continue Reading →
The real’s swings between losses and gains was the highest among major currencies as concern Brazil faces a downgrade to junk offset speculation that the central bank will increase borrowing costs by another half-percentage point. The increase in volatility this month added to the risk for investors wanting to take advantage of the highest interest... Continue Reading →
The world’s three biggest shipbuilders posted a combined 4.8 trillion won ($4.1 billion) in operating losses in the second quarter, paying the price for a failed foray into deep-sea oil rigs. Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. -- South Korea’s Big Three shipbuilders -- all reported... Continue Reading →
Brazil Energy Insight 