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Venezuela claims win against Exxon Mobil

Caracas claims win in court case involving seizure of Exxon assets. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) — The government of Venezuela declared victory following a ruling by an international court regarding Exxon Mobil claims on the country’s offshore oil. The International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, which receives funding from the World Bank, ruled Venezuela must pay Exxon Mobil $1.6 billion for taking over assets in 2007. That’s far less than the $16.6 billion Exxon wanted, giving the government in Caracas a claim to victory. "Once again, Venezuela, its government, institutions and workers have confronted and [have] been able to defeat the aggressions of the powerful transnational interests," a statement published Thursday read. The court, in its 138-page ruling , said the compensation is owed "for the expropriation of [Exxon Mobil’s] investments in the Cerro Negro project [in the Orinoco belt]." Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez moved […]

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Exxon Wins $1.6 Billion Settlement for Venezuela Seizure

was awarded a $1.6 billion settlement by an international arbitration panel for assets seized by Venezuela ’s government in 2007, a fraction of what the crude producer had sought. The World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, awarded the sum to Irving, Texas-based Exxon as compensation for investments in the Cerro Negro project and other losses, according to a on the ICSID website today. The world’s most valuable had originally sought as much as $14.7 billion for assets nationalized after it refused to accept terms of a partnership with Petroleos de Venezuela SA. “Our goal with the arbitration was to seek compensation for the fair market value of assets that were expropriated,” Exxon said in an e-mailed statement. “Exxon Mobil’s affiliate engaged in extensive discussions with PDVSA and government officials but was unable to reach agreement on fair compensation.” President Hugo Chavez ’s handpicked successor, […]

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Venezuelan oil basket falls 76 cents to $85.89/b this week: ministry

Caracas (Platts)–3Oct2014/509 pm EDT/2109 GMT The average price of Venezuela’s oil basket fell 76 cents/barrel to $85.89/b for the week of September 29-October 3, the country’s Oil and Mining Ministry said Friday. The prices of the country’s main crude grades continued to fall, affected mainly by signals of a slowdown in the global economy and abundant supply of crude oil in the market, the ministry said. The monthly average for September was $89.27/b, compared with $103.75/b in September 2013. The monthly average for October is $85.89 /b, compared with $97.31/b in October 2013, the ministry said. The year-to-date average fell to $95.29/b in the most recent week from $96.23/b a week earlier. The basket price is an average of 70% crude oil (light, medium and heavy) and 30% refined products. The crude oil includes the Bachaquero, Boscan, Laguna, Merey, Mesa 30, Santa Barbara and Leona 24 grades. The refined […]

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Petrobras CEO Said to Tell Minister to Boost Fuel Prices

Chief Executive Officer Maria das Gracas Foster has told Brazil Finance Minister , who chairs the state-run oil producer, that it needs at least a 10 percent increase in fuel prices, said a person with direct knowledge of the talks. Foster said at a recent board meeting that the gasoline and diesel increase is needed to reduce the cost of subsidizing fuel imports, the person said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. Foster also said a 10 percent rise wouldn’t be enough to completely eliminate subsidies or reduce the debt-to-equity ratio, or leverage, to an internal target of 35 percent by year-end, the person said. A weaker Brazilian real compared with the has increased the cost of importing gasoline and diesel and put a strain on the Rio de Janeiro-based company’s , the person said. It’s the first time this year Foster has specified the […]

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Oil in the Amazon: Who stands to win and lose?

Tune in Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 PT to watch America Tonight’s report on drilling for oil in the Amazon. ORELLANA PROVINCE, Ecuador – Looking high into the treetops, Sebastian Ramirez searched for familiar faces. For the past year, he’s been following a group of spider monkeys. Each day, he and his team track one of them and take notes. “We do what they do,” Ramirez said. “When they rest, we rest. When they move, we move.” Apart from recording the monkeys’ behavior and noting their movements via GPS, the biologists have one main task as they continue their decade-long study. “We never interfere with the animals,” he said. “Particularly because we’re in such a pristine environment.” A female spider monkey named Eva led a small troupe through the forest canopy looking for fruit. Seeds rained down on the biologists as the monkeys stopped to eat. After a […]

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Petrobras Slumps Most Since 2008 as Rousseff Support Grows

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4) fell the most in almost six years as President Dilma Rousseff gained support in a voter poll, sinking wagers that a new government will reduce intervention in the state-owned oil company . Shares of Petrobras slumped 11 percent to 18.60 reais at the close of trading in Sao Paulo , the biggest decline since November 2008. That loss contributed the most to the 4.5 percent drop in the benchmark Ibovespa today. Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras had gained 95 percent from its lowest level this year in March through Sept. 2 as support for opposition candidate Marina Silva increased. “There was a moment in the past weeks when a victory by the opposition was almost a certain thing, but this expectation seems now more and more distant,” Marcelo Varejao, an analyst at the brokerage firm Socopa, said in a phone interview from Sao Paulo. “The way […]

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Eni makes major oil find in Ecuador

MILAN, Italy, Sept. 18 (UPI) — Italian energy company Eni said Thursday it made an oil discovery in Ecuador that could hold as much as 300 million barrels in place. Eni announced the discovery at the Olgan-2 exploration well. Drilling encountered a 236-foot column of crude oil and initial production tests yielded a flow rate of 1,100 barrels of oil per day. "Early estimates suggest that the Oglan discovery potentially contains about 300 million barrels of oil in place," the company said in a statement. Ecuador has the third largest oil reserves in South America after Venezuela and Brazil. A member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, it exports an average 388,000 bpd and produces around 526,000 bpd. Eni said the discovery was made less than 10 miles away from processing facilities already producing about 12,500 bpd. The Italian company stressed its work in the Amazon rainforest in […]

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Panama Canal expansion will allow transit of larger ships with greater volumes

Ships carrying crude oil and petroleum products are limited by size restrictions imposed by several of the main thoroughfares of maritime navigation: the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, and the Strait of Malacca. These size restrictions provide another way to classify the large tankers that carry most of global crude oil and petroleum product trade. The Panama Canal , an important route connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, currently has a limited role in global crude and petroleum product transport. The canal’s current size restrictions means smaller vessels, with capacities of approximately 400,000-550,000 barrels of light sweet crude oil, are the only ships that can safely pass through the canal. These ships are referred to as Panamax tankers, and their smaller cargos lead to a higher per-barrel cost. However, the Panama Canal is undergoing an expansion that will allow for the passage of […]

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State Oil Firms to Invest $400 Million in Ecuador Oil Block

QUITO—State-run oil companies from Ecuador, Chile and Belarus plan to invest about $400 million to explore and develop the 490,000-acre Block 28 oil concession in southeast Ecuador. Ecuador’s Petroamazonas will have a 51% stake in the project, while Sipetrol SA, a unit of Chile’s state-owned Empresa Nacional de Petroleo, or Enap, will own 42% and Belarus’s Belorusneft will have the remaining 7%. About $30 million of the planned investment will come from Sipetrol and Belorusneft and will go into exploration. The companies plan to conduct exploration over a three-year period, and anticipate to produce oil from the block for over 15 years. The remaining $370 million investment, which will be used for production, will come from the three state oil companies, with their share of investment based on their stakes in the project. Petroamazonas General Manager Oswaldo Madrid said exploration work will begin in January 2015. Ecuador, the smallest […]

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Expansion of Panama Canal expected to open in 2016

MADRID (AP) — Panama’s president says the major expansion of the Panama Canal will be completed in time to open for business in the beginning of 2016. The project is expected to be finished in December 2015, and President Juan Carlos Varela says it will open early the following year, despite construction setbacks. A dispute with the European consortium that is expanding the canal led to a two-week work stoppage earlier this year. Varela said Tuesday in Spain that Panama is working closely with Madrid and with Spanish company Sacyr, which is leading the consortium. The $5.25 billion project aims to reduce congestion and expand capacity. The new channel will be able to accommodate ships with twice the cargo capability of vessels that currently traverse the existing canal.

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