Brazil is considering a flexible fiscal surplus target for this year as plummeting revenue and political turmoil hamper efforts to rebalance its public accounts, an official familiar with the matter told Reuters. President Dilma Rousseff's government was studying a bill to set a band for its primary surplus goal as well as a cap... Continue Reading →
BG Fourth-Quarter Profit Declines 54%, Beating Analyst Estimates
BG Group Plc, the U.K. energy company being acquired by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, said fourth-quarter profit dropped 54 percent following oil’s decline. Adjusted net income fell to $423 million from $915 million a year earlier, Reading, England-based BG said Friday in a statement. That beat the $347.3 million average estimate of six analysts surveyed... Continue Reading →
A debt default may be Venezuelans’ best hope
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/aead2ebc-c9a3-11e5-be0b-b7ece4e953a0.html#ixzz3zDtaNi37 February 4, 2016 3:12 pm A debt default may be Venezuelans’ best hope If imports are cut again, hardship could become a humanitarian crisis ©Getty Nicolas Maduro, President of Venezuela Azerbaijan has called for help from the International Monetary Fund. Nigeria is turning to the World Bank. Russia and Saudi Arabia are slashing public... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Real, Stocks Gain as Turmoil Takes Back Seat to Metals
Brazil’s real strengthened and its benchmark stock index rose for a second day as a slump in the U.S. dollar boosted commodity prices, improving the country’s terms of trade and supporting a rally in the prices of some of its biggest exports. The real strengthened 1 percent to 3.8572 per dollar at 12:08 p.m. in Sao... Continue Reading →
Petrobras – Update related to the Class Action in the United States
02/03/2016 Rio de Janeiro, February 3, 2016 – Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras informs that the judge presiding over the securities class action in the United States issued an order yesterday certifying two classes of investors. In the decision, the Court appointed Plaintiffs Employees’ Retirement System of the State of Hawaii and North Carolina Department... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Petrobras must face U.S. group lawsuits over corruption: judge
A U.S. judge ordered Petrobras, the state-run Brazilian oil company, to face class-action litigation by investors seeking to recoup billions of dollars in losses stemming from a bribery and political kickback scandal. In a decision made public on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan certified two classes of plaintiffs, saying their claims... Continue Reading →
Exxon Faces First Downgrade Since Depression as Oil Rout Worsens
Exxon Mobil Corp., one of three U.S. companies with Standard & Poor’s highest rating, is facing its first downgrade in 86 years as the worst crude-market collapse in a generation strangles oil producers of cash. For Exxon, that would be a historic event: the global explorer that traces its roots to the 19th century and... Continue Reading →
Statoil Seen Deepening Cuts to Keep Dividends Amid Crude Slump
Statoil ASA will maintain dividend payments this year, betting it can ride out a slump in crude prices by deepening investment cuts and adding debt, analysts predict. Norway’s biggest oil company, which will present an update of its strategy along with fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 4, will pay about 7.2 kroner a share in 2016,... Continue Reading →
Exxon Mobil Profit Declines as Crude Oil, Gas Markets Crash
Exxon Mobil Corp. posted its steepest annual profit decline in more than a decade after deeper-than-planned spending cuts failed to offset the impact of crumbling crude and natural gas prices. The stock dropped almost 2 percent. For 2015, net income fell by more than half to $16.2 billion, the lowest since 2002. Fourth-quarter net income... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Congress reconvenes, mired in pessimism
Brazilian lawmakers return from their annual recess today with an overwhelming list of work to do as the country sinks into a broadening political, economic and health crisis. And yet expectations about their actual capacity to make 2016 a better year than 2015 could hardly be smaller. While there is little consensus on the measures... Continue Reading →
Brazil Energy Insight 