Latin America and the Caribbean Archives - Page 130 of 220

Investors Want To Know: Colombia’s Negative Outlook

(Fitch Ratings, 22.Jul.2020) — Colombia’s sovereign metrics have deteriorated further since its April downgrade to ‘BBB-‘, underpinning the range of downside risks reflected in the country’s Negative Rating Outlook, says Fitch Ratings. The growth outlook and debt trajectory are particularly key for the rating, with growth facing significant downside risks […]

World’s Newest Oil Boom Is Facing A Major Problem

(Oilprice.com, 22.Jul.2020) — After a series of major offshore oil discoveries since 2015, with the largest ever made earlier this year, the tiny South American country of Guyana has become a hotspot for international oil majors. The deeply impoverished former British colony’s oil potential is being compared to nearby Brazil […]

BHP’s Ruby Project Moving Forward Offshore Trinidad

(Energy Analytics Institute, 21.Jul.2020) — The Ruby project offshore Trinidad & Tobago expects initial production in calendar year 2021, according to BHP. The project will have capacity for five production wells to be tied back into existing operated processing facilities, with gross capacity to produce up to 16,000 barrels per […]

Wärtsilä To Deliver Storage System To US Virgin Islands

(Wärtsilä, 21.Jul.2020) — The technology group Wärtsilä has been awarded a contract to deliver a state-of-the-art power plant and energy storage system to the US Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA). The plant will be delivered and installed on an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) basis. It will be […]

Global Gas Flaring At Levels Not Seen Since 2009

(World Bank, 21.Jul.2020) — Estimates from satellite data show global gas flaring increased to levels not seen in more than a decade, to 150 billion cubic meters (bcm), equivalent to the total annual gas consumption of Sub-Saharan Africa. The 3% rise, from 145 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2018 to […]

Petrobras On VAT Tax In PIS/COFINS Calculation Basis

(Petrobras, 21.Jul.2020) — Petrobras informs that it has obtained a favorable and final decision from the Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region in process that seeks to recover the PIS and COFINS contributions overpaid due to the inclusion of VAT tax (ICMS) in the calculation basis from October 2001 […]

NGC And BHP Ink Ruby Field Gas Supply Deal

(NGC, 21.Jul.2020) — The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) and BHP announced successful completion of negotiations of a Gas Sales Agreement for the Ruby Field. Ruby is located in Block 3(a), off the east coast of Trinidad, and is expected to be commissioned in the fourth […]

Venezuela’s Oil And Gas Sector Sees Worst Crisis

(Tradearabia News Service, 20.Jul.2020) — Venezuela’s oil and gas sector was already caught in a vicious cycle well before the Covid-19 outbreak created a world economic crisis. Even though there are several international companies still remaining in the country, they are not investing in any relevant manner and have minimum […]

Petrobras Concludes Divestment Of TAG

(Petrobras, 20.Jul.2020) — Petrobras, following up on the press release on 13 March 2020, entered into a share purchase and sale agreement, regarding its remaining 10% interest in Transportadora Associada de Gás S.A. (TAG), with the group formed by ENGIE and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ). The […]

Fernandez To Creditors: ‘We Can’t Do Any More’

(FT.com, 19.Jul.2020) —Alberto Fernández, Argentina’s president, has made an impassioned appeal for the world to accept that — with an economy devastated by coronavirus — he cannot budge from his final offer to restructure $65bn of foreign debt. Weighed down by $323bn of borrowing, Argentina was already in a deep […]

Situation In Guyana Goes From Bad To Worse

(Forbes, 18.Jul.2020) — As I wrote earlier this month, the future of the nascent oil and gas industry in the South American nation of Guyana is standing on shaky ground amid the ongoing controversy related to this year’s national elections. The situation only grew worse this week as U.S. Secretary […]

Ecopetrol Says 2020 CAPEX To Be Between $3bn-$3.4bn

(Ecopetrol, 17.Jul.2020) — Ecopetrol S.A. informs that the Board of Directors approved a new organic investment plan for the Ecopetrol Group (GE) for an estimated amount between $3 billion and $3.4 billion for 2020. This level of organic investment is similar to what was deployed in 2019 and higher than […]

Tullow Peru Update: Blocks Z-67 And Z-68

(Tullow, 17.Jul.2020) — Tullow is also working closely with the government to secure additional licenses. The Marina-1, non-operated exploration well, drilled in block Z-38 offshore Peru in Q1 2020 did not encounter significant hydrocarbons. The well was drilled to a total depth of 3,022 meters in 362 meters of water […]

CITGO Names Edgar Rincon COO, Executive VP

(Citgo, 17.Jul.2020) — The Board of Directors of CITGO Petroleum Corporation has appointed Edgar Rincon as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Executive Vice President, reporting to CITGO President and CEO Carlos Jordá effective 10 Augus 2020. “Edgar’s appointment comes after a series of appointments by the CITGO Board of Directors […]

Petrobras On Cumulative Vote Process For AGM

(Petrobras, 17.Jul.2020) — Petrobras, in compliance with article 30, item XXXIV of CVM Instruction 480/09, informs that it received from shareholders who jointly hold more than 5% (five percent) of its common shares, the request to adopt the cumulative vote system in the election of candidates to the Board of […]

YPF Reports Early Exchange Offer Participation

(YPF, 17.Jul.2020) — YPF S.A. announced results of the Early Participation Date (as defined below) with respect to its previously announced exchange offer to exchange any and all of its outstanding $1,000,000,000 8.500% Senior Notes due 2021 (the “Old Notes”) for the applicable amount of 8.500% Senior Amortizing Notes due […]

Petrobras Informs On Vantage Arbitration Case

(Petrobras, 17.Jul.2020) — Petrobras, following up on the releases disclosed on 17 May 2019 and 21 June 2019, informs that, yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dismissed the appeal filed by the company against the decision rendered by the Federal Court of Texas, on 05/17/2019, […]

Ocean Infinity Completes Offshore Project In Guyana

(Ocean Infinity, 16.Jul.2020) — Ocean Infinity, a marine robotics company, successfully completed its recent project for ExxonMobil, within the Stabroek block offshore Guyana. The project involved acquiring high-resolution geophysical and geotechnical data through the simultaneous deployment of multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), in water depths of between 70m and 2150m […]

Petrobras On OGCI’s Carbon Reduction Target

(Petrobras, 16.Jul.2020) — Petrobras informs that the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), an organization which Petrobras is a member, established a new collective target to reduce the carbon intensity of upstream operations. The new collective target sets an intensity between 20 kg and 21 kg CO2 for each barrel […]

Colombia Relaunches Bid Process For LNG Terminal

(Shearman & Sterling, 15.Jul.2020) — The Colombian government has issued a new timetable for the tender with respect to the design, construction and operation under a build, own and operate, or “BOO” scheme, of an LNG regasification facility in the Pacific seaport city of Buenaventura and the related pipeline to […]

Ibitu Energia Plans $830mn In Renewable Investments

(Reuters, 15.Jul.2020) — Brazil’s Ibitu Energia, owned by U.S.-based asset manager Castlelake LP, plans to invest roughly 4.5 billion reais ($839.43 million) in renewable energy assets in the coming five years, the firm’s chief executive said in a statement on Wednesday. The commitment comes after Castlelake reached an agreement with […]

Argentina Axes $2bn Vaca Muerta Gas Pipeline

(Energy Analytics Institute, 15.Jul.2020) — The Vaca Muerta gas pipeline, one of the most ambitious projects of the government of Argentina’s former President Mauricio Macri, was suspended indefinitely by Energy Secretariat Sergio Lanziani, according to details published by local media outlet Clarín. Work on the pipeline would have seen it […]

Delays Impact Guyana’s Payara-Pacora Project

(Rystad Energy, 15.Jul.2020) — The development of Guyana’s world-class deepwater oil resources in the Payara-Pacora project of its prolific Stabroek block, whose addition is set to add billions of dollars to the country’s GDP, is already plagued by delays. If prolonged, the delays will decrease the nation’s planned oil revenues, […]

Liza Unity Hull Arrives In Singapore

(Energy Analytics Institute, 15.Jul.2020) — The Liza Unity FPSO hull has arrived from China to the Keppel shipyard in Singapore where it will be fitted with 13 topside modules to complete construction. Irving-Texas-based oil giant Exxon expects startup of the Liza Phase 2 project offshore Guyana to occur sometime in […]

Petrobras Divests Ponta Do Mel And Redonda Fields

(Petrobras, 15.Jul.2020) — Petrobras, following up on the release disclosed on 30 September 2019, informs that it has finalized today the sale of its entire participation in two onshore production fields (Ponta do Mel and Redonda), located in the Potiguar Basin, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, to […]

Visa Curbs On Guyanese “Undermining Democracy”

(US Treasury, 15.Jul.2020) — On 2 March 2020 the Co-Operative Republic of Guyana held national elections, but it has still not declared a winner. All international observers of the vote count agreed that the manner in which votes were tabulated departed from established procedures. They unanimously agreed that a result […]

Sener To Boost Jobs During Salamanca Refinery Rehab

(Energy Analytics Institute, 15.Jul.2020) — Mexico’s Energy Secretariat anticipates a rise in the number of workers to be employed during the rehabilitation of the Salamanca refinery this year versus last. In terms direct administration positions, the secretariat announced it anticipates employing 1,458 workers in 2020 compared to 1,118 in 2019 […]

TermoCandelaria’s 2029 Senior Notes Solicitation

(TermoCandelaria, 14.Jul.2020) — TermoCandelaria Power Ltd, an electric power generation company in Colombia, which owns and operates a large portfolio of thermal power plants in Colombia, announced that it received the required consents from the holders of the 7.875% Senior Notes due 2029 issued by the company for the adoption […]

Petrobras On Production Record In Búzios

(Petrobras, 14.Jul.2020) — Petrobras reports that the platforms installed in the Búzios field (P-74, P-75, P-76 and P-77), in the Santos Basin pre-salt, reached new production records yesterday, of 674,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and 844,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed). The Búzios field, discovered in […]

Petrobras Concludes Renewable Diesel Tests

(Petrobras, 14.Jul.2020) — Petrobras informs that, on July 11th, it successfully concluded tests on an industrial scale for the production of renewable diesel. The tests were conducted at the Presidente Getúlio Vargas Refinery (Repar), in Araucária, Paraná, where 2 million liters of soybean oil were processed, which resulted in the […]

Petrobras Reduces Cost Of Post-salt Well Construction

(Petrobras, 14.Jul.2020) — Petrobras informs that in early July, it completed, in half the time, the construction of the 7 GLF 49H ESS offshore well, in the Golfinho field, in the Espírito Santo Basin, 100 km from Vitória. This was the first post-salt well built with the application of the […]

Suriname Elects Santokhi As President, Brunswijk As VP

(Energy Analytics Institute, 14.Jul.2020) — Suriname elected Progressive Reform Party (VHP) front man Chan Santokhi as the country’s president and Ronnie Brunswijk, leader of the General Liberation and Development Party (ABOP), as the country’s vice president. The new government will official start work on 17 July 2020, Viren Ajodhia, energy […]

New Players Help Maduro Evade Tanker Sanctions

(AP, 13.Jul.2020) — As U.S. sanctions scare away the world’s largest shippers from Venezuela‘s oil industry, new players are willing to brave the heightened risks and help keep socialist leader Nicolás Maduro afloat, according to a new report. In the first year since the Trump administration imposed crushing economic sanctions on Venezuela‘s […]

US Ups Pressure To Push Venezuela Oil Exports To 0

(Oilprice.com, 13.Jul.2020) — The United States is pressing shippers, insurers, certification organizations, and flag states registering vessels not to work with Venezuela as the Trump Administration is looking to cut off Nicolas Maduro’s regime from international oil trade, Elliott Abrams, the U.S. Administration’s special representative for Venezuela, told Reuters in […]

US Swaps Venezuelan Fuel Oil For Russian Products

(Oilprice.com, 13.Jul.2020) — The United States has been raising its imports of fuel oil from Russia over the past year and a half after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s exports, Reuters reported on Monday, quoting data from Refinitiv Eikon. Venezuela’s heavy crude oil is suitable to process in complex […]

New Players Emerge In Venezuela Amid Sanctions

(AP, 13.Jul.2020) — As U.S. sanctions scare away the world’s largest shippers from Venezuela’s oil industry, new players are willing to brave the heightened risks and help keep socialist leader Nicolas Maduro afloat, according to a new report. In the first year since the Trump administration imposed crushing economic sanctions […]

Bolivia To Investigate YPFB Refining Transfers

(Energy Analytics Institute, 13.Jul.2020) — Ecuador ‘s transparency unit of the hydrocarbon ministry received a complaint that dates back and relates to the management of the former YPFB Refining general manager Guillermo Achá, during the government of former president Evo Morales, alleging the subsidiary company made million dollar deposits into […]

Argentina’s YPF Announces Exchange Offering

(YPF, 13.Jul.2020) — Argentina’s state oil company YPF Sociedad Anónima announced 13 July 2020 changes to a debt exchange offering. The offering consists of the following: (i) Class XIII 8.500% fixed rate US Dollar denominated negotiable obligations redeemable with maturity in 2025 in an aggregate nominal amount of up to […]

Fitch Downgrades Suriname’s LT-FC IDR To ‘RD’

(Fitch Ratings, 13.Jul.2020) — Fitch Ratings has downgraded Suriname’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency (FC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘RD’ from ‘C’. KEY RATING DRIVERS The downgrade of Suriname’s LT-FC IDR to ‘RD’ and the issue rating on Suriname’s 2023 notes to ‘D’ from ‘C’ follows the agreement by commercial bondholders on […]

Suriname Elects New President Santokhi

(The New York Times, 13.Jul.2020) — Desi Bouterse has cast a long shadow over Suriname since its independence. Once a dictator, he returned as a populist, but fell in the face of the pandemic and an economic crisis. Suriname elected a new president on Monday, ending the long rule of […]

Vote Standoff Prolongs Guyana Uncertainty

(Argus, 13.Jul.2020) — Guyana’s political stalemate is prolonging uncertainty over the future management of the South American country’s fledgling oil sector, and raising the prospect of US sanctions. The declaration of the winner of the 2 March presidential and parliamentary election has once again been delayed by a standoff between […]

Ecuador Seeking New Oil-backed Loan From China

(Argus, 13.Jul.2020) — Ecuador’s austerity-minded government is in discussions with China to secure a new loan backed by oil sales. The fresh loan of at least $1.4bn would be secured by some 50mn bl of crude sales under a long-term arrangement that replicates a series of oil-backed debt contracts that […]

Petrobras On Asphalt Sale By Reduc

(Petrobras, 13.Jul.2020) — Petrobras reports that its refinery in Duque de Caxias (Reduc), located in Rio de Janeiro, reached the mark of 16,773 tons of asphalt sold in June 2020, an increase of 42.5% compared to May and 120.8% compared to the same month of the previous year. This is […]

PetroEcuador Continues With Elimination Process

(Energy Analytics Institute, 12.Jul.2020) — Technical staff with the Consortium Suez-Ecuambiente continues with previous work related to the export of hazardous waste from the Las Esmeraldas refinery, which consists of 3,000 tons of spent caustic soda, spent diethanolamine, dielectric oil with PCB’S and electrical transformers with PCBs, which remain stored […]

Recount Result: Guyana’s Only Democratic Solution

(OAS, 11.Jul.2020) — The Organization of American States (OAS) notes that the Chief Elections Officer of Guyana, in direct opposition to the instructions of the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission, has submitted a final report which includes data compiled prior to the national recount; data which had already been […]

Petrobras On Measures In Aviation Gasoline

(Petrobras, 11.Jul.2020) — Petrobras informs that it has decided, preventively, to interrupt supplying a specific imported batch of aviation gasoline after tests carried out at its research center (Cenpes). The company identified that this batch had a different aromatic content compounds than the batches imported until then, although in accordance […]

Latin America and the Caribbean

Reliance To Load Venezuelan Oil In Fuel Swap Deal

(Sputnik, 10.Jul.2020) — India is one of the biggest buyers of Venezuelan oil in spite of US sanctions. Private Indian refiners Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy are the only buyers from India. Soon after the US imposed sanctions, the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Gas had advised the two firms […]

Ecuador seeks private investor to operate Esmeraldas refinery

(Piero Stewart, Energy Analytics Institute, 10.Jul.2020) — Ecuador’s Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources (MERNNR) together with state controlled EP PetroEcuador plan to define the contractual mechanism for a private investor to contribute, at their own risk and expense, to the improvement of the supply and quality of fuels […]

Exxon Restarts Drilling Off Guyana Amid Political Crisis

(Bloomberg, 10.Jul.2020) — Exxon Mobil Corp. resumed drilling in Guyana last month, underscoring its dedication to the offshore hot spot despite the oil price crash and a messy turn in local politics. Two of Exxon’s four drillships went back to work, according to data published Friday by Baker Hughes Co. […]

MERNNR Extends Offers For El Aromo And Villonaco

(Energy Analytics Institute, 10.Jul.2020) — René Ortiz, the head of Ecuador’s Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources (MERNNR) extended terms for the delivery of technical and economic offers — within the public selection processes for the concession for the El Aromo photovoltaic projects (200 megawatts) located in the province […]