(Reuters, Matt Spetalnick and Roberta Rampton, 5.Aug.2019) — U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a freeze on all Venezuelan government assets in the United States on Monday, sharply escalating an economic and diplomatic pressure campaign aimed at removing socialist President Nicolas Maduro from power. The executive order signed by Trump goes […]
Category: North America
North America energy
Guaido Govt Authorized To Pick Citgo BODs, Court Says
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 5.Aug.2019) — Court says National Assembly leader Juan Guaido authorized to appoint the directors of Houston-based refiner Citgo Petroleum, company spokesperson says. “Today’s decision is an important victory for Citgo. The Court’s affirmation of the Guaido Government’s authority to appoint the directors of Citgo, through […]
Mexican Lawsuit Risks Permian Route To Market
(Petroleum Economist, Charles Waine, 2.Aug.2019) — Mexico’s ComisiĂłn Federal de Electridad (CFE), the state-owned electricity utility, has started legal proceedings against seven natural gas pipelines. The move intensifies fears about both the anti-business agenda of the country’s president Andres LĂłpez Obrador and further delays to a much-needed release valve for […]
Citgo Holding, Inc. Refinances $1.87bn Debt
(Citgo, 1.Aug.2019) — CITGO Holding, Inc., parent company of CITGO Petroleum Corporation (CPC), confirmed it has completed its previously announced refinancing transactions to redeem and pay-off $1.870 billion of its senior secured notes due in 2020. The transactions include a private offering of $1.370 billion aggregate principal amount of senior […]
Venezuela Oil Exports Slid 17.5% In July-Data
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga, 1.Aug.2019) — Venezuela’s oil exports fell 17.5% in July to their second-lowest level since Washington imposed sanctions on the nation as state-run PDVSA finds fewer customers to take its oil, according to internal data from the company and Refinitiv Eikon. PDVSA and its partners exported a total […]
Frontera Announces Regular And Special Dividends
(Frontera, 1.Aug.2019) — Frontera Energy Corporation announces that its board of directors has declared a regular dividend of C$0.205 per common share and a special dividend of C$0.535. The special dividend will be paid on or about August 23, 2019 to shareholders of record at the close of business on […]
Ecopetrol Call To Discuss Oxy Midland Basin Deal
(Ecopetrol, 31.Jul.2019) — Ecopetrol S.A. announces that on August 1st, Ecopetrol’s senior management will host two conference calls to review the joint venture with Occidental Petroleum Corporation to develop Occidental’s Midland Basin properties in the Permian Basin. Please find below the timing, dial-in and links to access the conferences: Spanish […]
Ecopetrol and Occidental Form Strategic Midland JV
(Ecopetrol, 31.Jul.2019) — Ecopetrol S.A. announced formation of a joint venture with Occidental Petroleum Corporation to develop 97,000 net acres of Occidental’s Midland Basin properties in the Permian Basin. The JV enables Ecopetrol to book ~160 MMboe of proved undeveloped reserves at transaction closing and provides access to one of […]
Petropiar JV starts blending
(Reuters, 29.Jul.2019, Words: 316) — Venezuelan state-run oil company PDVSA said on Monday the Petropiar extra-heavy crude upgrader, part-owned by U.S. oil company Chevron Corp, had begun operations as a blending facility. The facility, which used to produce upgraded crude destined mainly for the U.S. market, is expected to produce […]
Trump Govt Split Over Chevron’s Venezuela License
(Reuters, Timothy Gardner, 26.Jul.2019) — The Trump administration is split over whether to renew a license this week for energy company Chevron Corp’s operations in Venezuela, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo supporting a renewal and others opposing it, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. At […]
Chevron To Keep Drilling In Venezuela Despite Sanctions
(Reuters, 26.Jul.2019) — The administration of United States President Donald Trump said on Friday that it has renewed Chevron Corp’s licence to drill for oil and gas in Venezuela despite sanctions, signalling that it sees value in having the US oil producer operate in a country on the verge of […]
Canadian Solar Signs Solar Photovoltaic Project Deal
(Canadian Solar, 25.Jul.2019) — Canadian Solar Inc. announced that it has signed an agreement for the purchase of electricity from its 32 MWp/23 MWac Suffield solar facility with Direct Energy, one of North America’s largest energy and energy-related services providers, and a subsidiary of Centrica PLC. The Suffield project, located […]
YPF Advances LNG Exports With Excelerate’s Assistance
(Excelerate, 25.Jul.2019) — YPF announced that a preliminary agreement was reached with Excelerate Energy L.P. (Excelerate) for the charter of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier, which will export LNG produced from the TANGO FLNG unit, located in BahĂa Blanca, to the global natural gas market. Both parties will be […]
Chevron In Crosshairs As Trump Exerts Maximum Pressure On Maduro
(Bloomberg, Kevin Crowley, Lucia Kassai and Kevin Cirilli, 25.Jul.2019) — Pressure is mounting on U.S. President Donald Trump to end Chevron Corp.’s 100-year presence in Venezuela as he seeks to exert maximum pressure on the embattled regime of Nicolas Maduro. Trump will announce his decision on whether to grant the U.S. […]
CITGO Foundation Holds Symposium On Venezuelan Health Crisis
(Citgo, 25.Jul.2019) — The SimĂłn BolĂvar Foundation, the 501(c)(3) non-profit, private foundation of CITGO Petroleum Corporation, held an educational and networking event last night for the Houston community regarding the public health situation in Venezuela. The event featured keynote addresses from two public health experts: Dr. Marino J. Gonzalez R. […]
Chevron Call To Chart Venezuela Sanctions
(Argus, 25.Jul.2019) — A US government decision over Chevron’s expiring license to work in Venezuela is the first test of its willingness to ease sanctions that have so far failed to bring about regime change. Under oil sanctions imposed on 28 January, the US Treasury gave Chevron and a clutch […]
Vista Oil & Gas Prices Public Offering With NYSE Listing
(Vista, 25.Jul.2019) — Vista Oil & Gas, S.A.B. de C.V. announced today the pricing of the underwritten public offering of the Company’s Series A shares as part of the global primary offering of 10,000,000 Series A shares. The global offering consisted of an international offering in the United States and […]
Venezuela Opposition Divided Over ‘Oil-For-Food’ Program
(Reuters, Luc Cohen, 25.Jul.2019) — A proposal to modify U.S. oil sanctions on Venezuela to allow crude exports to be bartered for food has divided the country’s opposition between those who say the move would stave off famine and those who predict President Nicolas Maduro would abuse it. Henri Falcon, […]
Bristow Finalizes $385mn Backstop Agreement
(Bristow, 25.Jul.2019) — Bristow Group Inc. today announced that, as part of its previously-filed Chapter 11 cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (the “Bankruptcy Court” or “the Court”), the Company has entered into a $385 million backstop commitment agreement (the “BCA”) with certain of […]
Core Laboratories Sets Earnings Call Schedule
(Core Laboratories, 24.Jul.2019) — Core Laboratories N.V. scheduled a conference call to discuss Core’s second quarter 2019 earnings announcement. The call will begin at 7:30 a.m. CDT / 2:30 p.m. CEST on Thursday, 25 July 2019. To listen to the call, please go to Core’s website at www.corelab.com. ***
Core Lab Reports 2Q:19 Results
(Core Laboratories, 24.Jul.2019) — Core Laboratories N.V. reported that continuing operations resulted in second quarter 2019 revenue of $169,000,000. Second quarter 2019 revenue was impacted by a mid-quarter divestment of a non-strategic business in Asia Pacific and a softer than expected North American services market. Core’s operating income was $28,000,000 […]
Guaido Says To Protect Chevron Assets In Venezuela
(Reuters, Luc Cohen) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Tuesday he would seek to protect Chevron Corp’s assets in the country if the United States does not renew a license allowing the company to operate despite sanctions on the OPEC nation’s oil sector. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, […]
Venezuela’s Oil Output Collapse: IHS Markit
(Ford Tanner, 23.Jul.2019) — Venezuela’s political crisis remains in stalemate. Escalating oil-sector sanctions imposed by the United States have contributed to massive declines in crude oil production, but the collapse of Venezuela’s petroleum industry has not resulted in a political shift. President Nicolás Maduro appears to maintain full control of […]
U.S. Sanctions Chinese Oil Buyer On Alleged Violations
(Reuters, 23.Jul.2019) — The United States has sanctioned Chinese state-run energy company Zhuhai Zhenrong Co Ltd for allegedly violating restrictions imposed on Iran’s oil sector, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a speech on Monday. “We’ve said that we will sanction any sanctionable behavior, and we mean it,” […]
Fallout From Sweet Oil Deal For Venezuela’s Neighbors
(NPR, 20.Jul.2019) — It sounded like such a good idea at the time. The year was 2005. Global oil prices were climbing dramatically. Countries in the Caribbean were facing major fuel shortages. Venezuela, one of the world’s largest producers of crude, offered to ease the staggering fuel costs faced by […]
IDB Invest Supports Grupo Bancolombia to Issue the First Sustainable Bond
(IDB, 19.Jul.2019) — IDB Invest, member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, subscribed a bond in its entirety for 657,000 million Colombian pesos with Grupo Bancolombia. It is the first time a private company issues a sustainable bond in Colombia. It aims to increase financing for green and social projects and […]
Sanctions Squeeze Venezuela’s EHCO Output
(Petroleum Economist, 18.Jul.2019) — Latin America’s economically troubled oil giant faces the difficult task of significantly raising Asian crude grades. Venezuela’s upgraders have been forced to stop upgrading extra-heavy crude and instead focus on blending light and heavy grades, as US sanctions limit exports of the South American country’s most […]
Frontera Expands Colombian Exploration Acreage
(Frontera, 16.Jul.2019) — Frontera Energy Corporation announces the award of the VIM-22 block in addition to LLA-99 block which was previously announced on June 27, 2019 under the successful Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos (“ANH”) bid round. Definitive award documentation will be entered into later this month. Block Gross Acres Operator […]
Frontera To Host 2Q:19 Conference Call
(Frontera, 16.Jul.2019) — Frontera Energy Corporation plans to announce its second quarter 2019 results will be released after market on Thursday, August 1, 2019 followed by a conference call for investors and analysts on Friday, August 2, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. (MDT), 9:00 a.m. (GMT-5) and 10:00 a.m. (EDT). Participants […]
Qatar Petroleum And Chevron Ink Deal For Mega US Petrochemical Plant
(Qatar Petroleum, 10.Jul.2019) — Qatar Petroleum has signed an agreement with Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC to develop a new world-scale petrochemical project in the Gulf Coast region of the United States of America. The signing took place at the White House, in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Tamim […]
Venezuela’s CRP Shuts Down After Blackout
(Oilprice.com, Irina Slav, 8.Jul.2019) — Venezuela’s refining complex CRP has been shut down after a blackout that occurred on Sunday, Argus Media reports, citing union officials from the complex as saying the blackout was caused by a “catastrophic failure” in a turbine at the power plant that supplies electricity to […]
Sempra On Cameron LNG With McDermott, Chiyoda
(McDermott, 5.Jul.2019) — McDermott International (McDermott) and Chiyoda International (Chiyoda) announced today they have reached an agreement with Cameron LNG for performance-based commercial considerations related to the construction and commissioning schedule that further aligns the interests of all parties around safe, timely completion of Phase 1 of Cameron LNG, a […]
Bechtel Delivers 1st Cargo To Corpus Christi’s Train 2
(Bechtel, 3.Jul.2019) — Bechtel and customer Cheniere Energy announced the completion of the first commissioning cargo with liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Train 2 at the Corpus Christi Liquefaction (CCL) export terminal in Corpus Christi, Texas. Through its partnership with Cheniere, Bechtel has now delivered seven LNG trains at two […]
Chevron Seeks Relief From Trump’s Venezuela Oil Sanctions
(Bloomberg, Fabiola Zerpa, Peter Millard and Kevin Crowley, 2.Jul.2019) — Chevron Corp. is lobbying the U.S. for sanctions relief so it can continue doing business in oil-rich Venezuela where President Donald Trump has been pushing for regime change. Chevron executives have been telling local staff that the company expects waivers […]
Building LNG-powered Ships Along U.S./Mexico Border
(Chron.com, Sergio Chapa, 1.Jul.2019) — Keppel AmFELS has built offshore drilling rigs and platforms here for decades. But the last few years have not been particulary kind to the offshore energy companies, which in the face of low oil prices and competition from shale, has delayed, canceled and scaled back […]
Venezuela Reshifts Oil Output
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga and Luc Cohen, 28.Jun.2019) — Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA is revamping one of its major processing operations geared to supplying U.S. buyers to produce instead a crude grade favored by Asian refiners, according to internal documents seen by Reuters. Sweeping U.S. sanctions on the government of […]
Glencore To Import 1,890,000 Barrels Of Cutter Stock
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 27.Jun.2019) — EP Petroecuador awarded Glencore Ltda. a deal to import 1,890,000 barrels ± 2% of cutter stock, a diluent used in the preparation of fuel oil. Glencore offered the cutter stock diluent with a $3.32 per barrel differential, EP PetroEcuador announced 27 June in […]
Enel Américas Launches Preemptive Rights Offerings
(Enel, 27.Jun.2019) — ENEL AMÉRICAS S.A. announced the launch of the preemptive rights offering in connection with the capital increase approved by the company’s shareholders on April 30, 2019. Pursuant to the capital increase, the company is authorized to issue 18,729,788,686 new shares, which are subject to the preemptive rights […]
NASA To Livestream South America Total Solar Eclipse
(NASA, 27.Jun.2019) — NASA has partnered with the Exploratorium in San Francisco to bring live views to people across the world of a total solar eclipse, occurring Tuesday, July 2, over South America. The eclipse will only be visible directly to observers within the path of totality, which stretches across […]
Court To Decide Fight For Control Of US Refiner Citgo
(Reuters, 26.Jun.2019) — A U.S. court will decide whether a board of directors appointed by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro or one backed by his rival, opposition leader Juan Guaido, runs the eighth-largest U.S. refiner, Citgo Petroleum Corp. A lawsuit filed by Maduro’s representatives on Tuesday in Delaware Chancery Court seeks […]
YPF Nationalization Trial To Continue In The U.S.
(Energy Analytics Institute, Aaron Simonsky, 24.Jun.2019) — The U.S. Supreme Court of Justice dealt another blow to the strategy of the government of Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri when it deactivated the multi million-dollar demand from Burford Capital for the nationalization of YPF; thus, giving a definite green light for the […]
ReneSola And X-Elio To Develop Solar Projects
(ReneSola, 24.Jun.2019) — ReneSola Ltd entered into a development service agreement with X-Elio North America, a subsidiary of X-Elio, a Madrid, Spain-based company specialized in the development, construction, operation and maintenance of solar plants. Under the agreement, the Company’s North American development team will originate and develop large utility scale […]
BPs’s Statistical Review Of World Energy, Edition 2019
(BP, 21.Jun.2019) — BP released its Statistical Review of World Energy, edition 2019, which provides a timely and objective insight into those developments and how that change can begin to be achieved. A link to the document can be found here. ***
TPHL Announces Extension Of Expiration Date
(TPHL, 20.Jun.2019) — Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Limited (TPHL) announced that the expiration date has been extended until 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on June 21, 2019, unless extended or earlier terminated (such time and date with respect to the Exchange Offers, as the same may be extended, the “Extended […]
US Seeks Info From Guaido’s Ad-hoc Citgo Board
(Reuters, 19.Jun.2019) — An ad-hoc board of directors for U.S. oil refiner Citgo, named by Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, said on Wednesday it has received a request for information from U.S. officials, who are probing its parent company PDVSA for alleged corruption. The board was named by Guaido, also […]
Canada’s Gulf Coast Exports Up As Venezuela Gap Filled
(Reuters, Collin Eaton, 18.Jun.2019) — Heavy crudes have poured into the United States this spring, offsetting the loss of Venezuelan oil and producing a mini-surplus, with Canadian heavy crude this month being exported from the U.S. Gulf Coast. U.S. refiners have lined up larger supplies from Canada, Iraq and Colombia […]
Matamoros Turbine Plant To Supply U.S., LatAm Projects
(Chron.com, Sergio Chapa, 17.Jun.2019) — Wind turbine blades that are now being made in the Mexican border town of Matamoros will soon find themselves installed in projects throughout the United States and Latin America. German wind turbine maker and wind farm developer Nordex Acciona recently began production at the company’s […]
Schneider Electric Launches 1st U.S. Smart Factory
(Schneider, 13.Jun.2019) — Schneider Electric launched the first Smart Factory in the U.S. to demonstrate in real time how its EcoStruxure architecture and related suite of offerings can help increase operational efficiency and reduce costs for its customers. Embracing cutting edge technology and the benefits of the Industrial Internet of Things […]
Renewables Can Benefit The Upstream Business: WoodMac
(WoodMac, 12.Jun.2019) — One of the hottest topics at APPEA was how to use renewables to benefit an upstream business, rather than replace it. At APPEA, Darwin LNG operator ConocoPhillips said it would be the first LNG facility globally to use batteries to run plant turbines. Similarly, Woodside is installing […]
Poland’s PGNiG And Venture Global LNG To Acquire 1.5 MTPA Of LNG
(Venture Global, 12.Jun.2019) — In connection with the state visit of The President of Poland, Andrzej Duda to Washington D.C., the Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) has signed, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House, an agreement with Venture Global LNG to purchase an additional 1.5 […]