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Venezuela's Maduro poised to get decree powers

AP Photo CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s National Assembly on Tuesday stripped an opposition lawmaker of her immunity from prosecution in a case of alleged corruption, clearing the way for the legislature to grant the president special power to enact laws by decree. President Nicolas Maduro has said he will use the extra authority to intensify actions against opponents and businesses that he says are waging “economic war” trying to destabilize the South American country. As a result of the assembly’s vote, which was widely expected, lawmaker Maria Aranguren will have to step down while she faces prosecution on what she says are trumped up embezzlement charges. Aranguren, who broke with the late President Hugo Chavez’s government in 2012, will be replaced by a lawmaker more in line with the government’s wishes, likely giving the president the crucial 99th vote he needs to ensure passage of the decree powers. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Venezuela’s Maduro poised to get decree powers

AP Photo CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s National Assembly on Tuesday stripped an opposition lawmaker of her immunity from prosecution in a case of alleged corruption, clearing the way for the legislature to grant the president special power to enact laws by decree. President Nicolas Maduro has said he will use the extra authority to intensify actions against opponents and businesses that he says are waging “economic war” trying to destabilize the South American country. As a result of the assembly’s vote, which was widely expected, lawmaker Maria Aranguren will have to step down while she faces prosecution on what she says are trumped up embezzlement charges. Aranguren, who broke with the late President Hugo Chavez’s government in 2012, will be replaced by a lawmaker more in line with the government’s wishes, likely giving the president the crucial 99th vote he needs to ensure passage of the decree powers. […]

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Ecuador Court Affirms and Halves Chevron Judgment

QUITO, Ecuador—Ecuador’s highest court affirmed an environmental verdict against Chevron Corp. CVX -0.89% Chevron Corp. U.S.: NYSE $ 120.00 -1.08 -0.89% Nov. 12, 2013 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 6.05M AFTER HOURS $ 120.06 +0.06 +0.05% Nov. 12, 2013 7:47 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 867,941 P/E Ratio 9.75 Market Cap $232.86 Billion Dividend Yield 3.33% Rev. per Employee $3,588,150 11/12/13 Chevron, Brazil’s Petrobras St… 11/01/13 Chevron Pumps Up Its Spending 11/01/13 The Race for Oil, and Chevron’… More quote details and news » CVX in Your Value Your Change Short position but cut the judgment against the oil giant in half. Ecuador’s National Court of Justice ruled late Tuesday that Chevron must pay $9.5 billion to plaintiffs in the country’s rainforests over decades-old contamination. The verdict had stood at $19 billion, but the court tossed out punitive damages that were imposed in 2011 after Chevron refused to apologize […]

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CNPC, PetroChina to Buy Peru Oil, Gas Assets From Petrobras for US$2.6 Bln

By Yvonne Lee HONG KONG–China National Petroleum Corp., the country’s largest integrated oil producer, will pay US$2.6 billion for oil and gas assets in Peru, in the latest foray by China’s state-owned oil firms into Latin America. CNPC and its unit PetroChina Co. (0857.HK) have reached a deal with Brazil’s state-owned Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR), or Petrobras, to buy Petrobras Energia Peru S.A., which owns three oil and gas blocks in Peru, the Chinese firm said Wednesday. China has looked to Latin America and Africa in recent years to meet its energy needs, with domestic oil output slowing in the past decade as its fields mature. PetroChina has said it aims for overseas production to account for half of its business by 2015. PetroChina produced a total 67.5 million barrels of oil equivalent overseas in the first half of 2013, up 8% on year and accounting for 9.7% of […]

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Brazil to Triple Oil Output to 6 Million Barrels/Day by 2035 — IEA

RIO DE JANEIRO–Brazil’s recently discovered offshore oil fields will triple the country’s current crude oil output to six million barrels per day by 2035, making Latin America’s largest country a leading producer and exporter, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. Brazil discovered billions of barrels of crude trapped under a thick layer of salt beneath the Atlantic Ocean off the country’s southeast coast, finds that will make the country the world’s sixth-largest producer and a major oil exporter, the IEA said. Development of the fields, however, will be complex and expensive when compared with other areas holding large oil reserves such as the Middle East or Russia, the IEA warned. Brazil currently produces about two million barrels of oil per day. In October, Brazil sold rights to develop one of the fields–the Libra prospect–to a group led by state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR, PETR4.BR) that also included […]

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CNOOC ups ownership to 50% of CSG-LNG Queensland project

China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) will move to a 50% interest in Train 1 of the Queensland Curtis Island coal seam gas-LNG project, operated by BG Group. BG sold a further 40% of the project to the Chinese company for $1.93 billion to add to its existing 10% interest. Under a separate agreement, BG is to supply CNOOC with another 5 million tonnes/year of LNG for 20 years beginning in 2015. This LNG will come from BG’s global portfolio of assets. The Queensland Curtis LNG deal includes CNOOC receiving a 20% interest in reserves and resources of some BG permits in the Walloon Fairway region of the Surat basin taking its share there to 25%. In addition CNOOC gets a 25% equity in other BG permits in the Bowen and Surat basins. CNOOC will have the option to participate in up to 25% in one of the possible […]

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China vows 'decisive' role for markets, results by 2020

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s ruling party pledged to let markets play a "decisive" role in allocating resources as it unveiled a reform agenda for the next decade on Tuesday, looking to overhaul the world’s second-largest economy to drive future growth. China aims to achieve "decisive results" in its reform push by 2020, with economic changes a central focus of overall reforms, the ruling Communist Party said in a communiqué released by state media at the end of a four-day closed-door meeting of the party’s 205-member Central Committee. "The core issue is to straighten out the relationship between government and the market, allowing the market to play a decisive role in allocating resources and improving the government’s role," the party said in its statement. It added that it would set up a central leading team for "comprehensively deepening reform," responsible for "designing reform on an overall basis, arranging and co-ordinating […]

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China vows ‘decisive’ role for markets, results by 2020

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s ruling party pledged to let markets play a "decisive" role in allocating resources as it unveiled a reform agenda for the next decade on Tuesday, looking to overhaul the world’s second-largest economy to drive future growth. China aims to achieve "decisive results" in its reform push by 2020, with economic changes a central focus of overall reforms, the ruling Communist Party said in a communiqué released by state media at the end of a four-day closed-door meeting of the party’s 205-member Central Committee. "The core issue is to straighten out the relationship between government and the market, allowing the market to play a decisive role in allocating resources and improving the government’s role," the party said in its statement. It added that it would set up a central leading team for "comprehensively deepening reform," responsible for "designing reform on an overall basis, arranging and co-ordinating […]

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Japan passes law to launch reform of electricity sector

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s upper house passed legislation on Wednesday to start the most ambitious reform of its electricity sector since 1951, a process prompted by the Fukushima nuclear crisis that may end with the break-up of powerful regional monopolies. The reforms, including the establishment of a national grid and the liberalization of the power market for homes, are central to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s drive to overhaul the economy, as high energy costs threaten to derail efforts to reverse decades of stagnation. Regional monopolies, including Tokyo Electric Power Co and Kansai Electric Power Co, supply almost 98 percent of Japan’s electricity and terms for access to their transmission lines make it onerous for new entrants. Wrenching control of transmission from the monopolies to create a national grid became a big issue after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that sparked the Fukushima disaster and highlighted an inability to […]

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Essar Billionaires Cut Exports on Refiner Glut: Corporate India

Billionaire brothers Shashikant and Ravikant Ruia, who run India’s second-biggest oil refinery, will increase fuel sales at home as capacity additions in China and the Middle East shrink export margins. Essar Oil Ltd. (ESOIL) will reduce overseas sales from its 400,000-barrel-a-day plant as it predicts local demand for gasoline and diesel will rise in the year ending March 31, Managing Director Lalit Kumar Gupta said in an interview. The end of an above-normal monsoon in India will help revive diesel demand in Asia ’s second-biggest energy consumer, he said. “Domestic sales will rise and protect margins,” Gupta, 53, said by phone from New Delhi. “Demand in India will increase, and local refineries will be needed.” New processing capacities in China and the Middle East are set to increase supplies of petroleum products to Asia and erode earnings of export-focused refineries including Essar Oil and Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) , […]

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