Brought to you by Quest Offshore & Southern Cone Consultants
Of the three biggest ratings companies, S&P has taken the toughest stance on Brazil. Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings have the country rated a notch higher, providing a bigger buffer from the junk-grade threshold. A downgrade by S&P would undo the progress made under former President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, who led the... Continue Reading →
Standard & Poor’s said it may cut Brazil’s credit rating to junk, citing the country’s political and economic challenges amid an ongoing corruption probe. The ratings company said in a statement Tuesday it revised the outlook on Brazil’s rating to negative from stable. The country’s rating from S&P is already at BBB-, the lowest investment... Continue Reading →
Brazilian federal police said on Tuesday they were completing two arrest warrants as part of a corruption investigation into Eletronuclear, a subsidiary of state-run electric utility Eletrobras. The investigation that had previously focused on graft at state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA is investigating price fixing and cartel formation at the Angra 3 nuclear reactor,... Continue Reading →
BP Plc reported second-quarter profit that missed analyst estimates after a boom in trading faded and the conflict in Libya forced almost $600 million of writedowns. Profit adjusted for one-time items and inventory changes dropped 64 percent from a year earlier to $1.3 billion, BP said Tuesday. That missed the $1.7 billion average estimate of... Continue Reading →
Santos Port has always been known as Brazil’s gateway to the world. Now, it’s also a window into what went wrong in Latin America’s biggest economy. Exports from Santos have tumbled as demand from China sags. Companies betting on a boon as massive offshore oil finds were developed are now scaling back after Petroleo Brasileiro... Continue Reading →
Statoil ASA, Norway’s biggest oil and gas producer, posted second-quarter profit that beat estimates as higher production, lower costs and refining margins helped it to weather a plunge in crude prices. Net income excluding financial and other items fell to 7.2 billion kroner ($878 million) from 9.9 billion kroner a year earlier, the Stavanger-based company... Continue Reading →
Mexico’s Pemex, battered by the oil price crash and on track to report its 11th consecutive quarterly loss on Tuesday, has found a way to improve its balance sheet. But its plan to bring in private equity funds to finance 15 offshore infrastructure projects and investments worth more than $7bn has landed it in an accounting Catch... Continue Reading →
Oil Majors Delay $200 Billion of Spending, Wood Mackenzie Says by Stephen Bierman July 27, 2015 — 7:28 AM BRT Global oil and natural-gas producers have delayed $200 billion of investment in more than 45 projects following the slump in crude prices, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd. The deferrals “create a substantial hole in the... Continue Reading →
Brazil's largest party is standing by deeply unpopular President Dilma Rousseff for now despite the defection of one of its own leaders, but that could change if an expected recession stirs up social unrest, party leaders say. Rousseff is struggling to save her presidency amid the worst economic downturn in 25 years and a political... Continue Reading →
There are times in Brazil’s young democracy -- its constitution dates from 1988 -- when the country seems to be making things up as it goes along. This is one of them. Read More
Brazil Energy Insight 