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Petrobras Seeking Access to Former Executive’s Testimony

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR) requested access to a former executive’s allegations of a kickback scheme involving the state-run oil producer in a scandal that threatens to influence the outcome of presidential elections. Petrobras, as the Rio de Janeiro-based company is known, asked the judge investigating the so-called Car Wash money-laundering case for details of testimony given by former refining head Paulo Roberto Costa, it said yesterday in a statement. The oil producer also wrote to companies cited by Brazilian press as allegedly involved in kickbacks, Petrobras said, without identifying them. Veja magazine reported over the weekend that a group of more than 30 politicians, including members and allies of President Dilma Rousseff’s Workers’ Party, allegedly received bribes linked to Petrobras contracts. The Sao Paulo-based magazine said the list of names was given by Costa during testimony to the federal public prosecutor. Costa, who is in jail as the police […]

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PDVSA Said to Hire London PR Firm as Venezuela Struggles

Petroleos de Venezuela SA hired a public relations agency founded by Margaret Thatcher ’s press adviser, two people familiar with the matter said, as Venezuela sells U.S. refineries and responds to World Bank court rulings. PDVSA, as the state-owned oil producer is known, contracted Tim Bell’s Bell Pottinger Private in May to improve its image abroad, said the people, who asked not to be identified because it hasn’t been made public. It’s the first time the company has hired an international PR firm since late-President Hugo Chavez began his so-called Bolivarian revolution in 1999. PDVSA, which accounts for 97 percent of Venezuela’s dollar earnings, is struggling to fund record social spending and subsidies, leading to shortages of everything from razors to flour in a country with the largest oil reserves. President Nicolas Maduro , Chavez’s handpicked replacement, is facing the world’s fastest inflation and foreign reserves near 11-year lows. […]

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Statoil wades deeper into Colombia

"We are gaining access to a vast underexplored frontier area through early access at scale, which is in line with Statoil’s exploration strategy," Nick Maden, a senior vice president for Statoil’s exploration activities in the Western Hemisphere, said in a statement. Statoil, for an undisclosed sum, acquired a minority share in two offshore areas in Colombia from Repsol. Statoil in July made its debut in Colombia in a deal with Repsol and the Colombian subsidiary of Exxon Mobil. Much of the country’s oil is focused inland in the foothills of the Andes and in the Amazonian jungle. Colombia holds an estimated 2.4 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, though offshore is considered frontier territory. While no reserve potential was available, Repsol has already conducted seismic surveys offshore to get a better understanding of the license area.

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PDVSA Chances of Lifting Output Seen Boosted by Reshuffle

President Nicolas Maduro ’s removal of his main economic and oil policy maker improves Venezuela’s chances of tapping more of the world’s largest crude reserves, according to Barclays Plc and Medley Global Advisors LLC. While Rafael Ramirez ’s exit from the posts of vice president for economy and energy minister dims hopes for economic reform, it may give his successor at Petroleos de Venezuela SA the opportunity to focus more on the job of pumping oil. Besides running PDVSA, Ramirez oversaw the exchange system and housing programs among other non-oil duties. His deputy on the PDVSA board, Eulogio Del Pino, will take over as part of a series of government changes unveiled by Maduro on Sept. 2. With a master’s degree in exploration from Stanford University , Del Pino oversaw the company’s operations and coordinated agreements with international oil firms as head of Corporacion Venezolana del Petroleo, or CVP. […]

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Venezuela Leader Scraps Expected Economic Revamp

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro speaks during a news conference at Miraflores Palace in Caracas on Tuesday night. He disappointed investors with a cabinet shake-up. Reuters CARACAS, Venezuela—In recent weeks, the government here hinted it was considering controversial steps to ease a deepening economic crisis, including raising the price of gasoline. But on Tuesday night, in a widely anticipated address, President Nicolás Maduro didn’t unveil any major economic adjustments. Instead, the president announced a cabinet shake-up that removed Rafael Ramírez, the powerful oil minister, who was seen as a proponent of modest changes. Investors didn’t take long to deliver their verdict. The price of Venezuela’s benchmark bond on Wednesday fell hard for the second consecutive day to levels last seen in April, while yields on some bonds from Petróleos de Venezuela climbed to nearly 15%, among the highest in emerging markets. "All of those promises have fallen flat because he […]

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A once-proud industrial city, now a monument to Venezuela’s economic woes

Residents of a neighborhood in Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela, block traffic with burning tires to protest a broken sewer main. (Nick Miroff/The Washington Post) Long before Hugo Chávez launched his socialist revolution, government planners came here to Venezuela’s eastern frontier, where the mighty Orinoco and Caroni rivers converge, and envisioned an industrial workers’ paradise. President Rómulo Betancourt, a key partner in John F. Kennedy’s “Alliance for Progress,” founded the city in 1961, inviting his countrymen to turn Ciudad Guayana into a tropical Pittsburgh. More than a city, “it felt like you were building a country,” said Alfredo Rivas, who arrived as a young engineer and went on to become president of the huge steelworks here. A half-century later and 15 years after Chávez came to power, Ciudad Guayana’s factories are crippled, starved for investment and roiled by labor disputes. So faint is Betancourt’s vision that his own monument is coated […]

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Venezuelan President Replaces Oil Minister Rafael Ramírez

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro speaks at a news conference in Caracas on Tuesday. Reuters CARACAS—Rafael Ramírez, who has overseen Venezuela’s oil industry for more than a decade, was removed from that role late Tuesday in a cabinet shake-up announced by President Nicolás Maduro. As part of the shake-up, Mr. Ramírez was appointed foreign minister. Venezuela’s then-energy minister, Rafael Ramírez, attends an OPEC meeting in December 2011 in Vienna. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Mr. Ramírez had served as Mr. Maduro’s top economic adviser and was scheduled to lead an investor roadshow this month in New York in search of financing for the cash-strapped government. He was one of the most vocal proponents of economic overhauls such as slashing domestic gasoline subsidies and simplifying a cumbersome foreign-exchange system, two areas where the government has been bleeding money. The cabinet changes come as Mr. Maduro’s approval rating has tumbled to 35.4% as he […]

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Brazil’s Petrobras gets help with pre-salt basin

Oil services company Wood Group Kenny said Tuesday it secured more than $2 million in contracts for work off the coast of Brazil from Petrobras. Program director Hugues Corrignan said the company has a strong relationship with Brazilian energy company Petrobras, a relationship strengthened by new contracts. "We are particularly pleased to be selected to support Petrobras in these challenging projects and have the opportunity to positively contribute to the introduction of innovative technologies in the Brazilian environment," he said in a statement. Wood Group Kenny said it would help Petrobras and its partners develop heated pipeline technology for oil deposits trapped beneath a thick layer of submarine salt, dubbed pre-salt. The oil services company said the technology would be the first ever in a pre-salt environment. The technology targets the Lapa field, located about 170 miles off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Petrobras in December said the […]

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Premier Oil to Sell Down Falklands Project

LONDON— Premier Oil PLC has held discussions with companies interested in buying a stake in its Sea Lion project in the Falkland Islands, newly appointed Chief Executive Tony Durrant said Thursday. The U.K.-listed oil and gas explorer, which wants to reduce its exposure to the $5.2 billion project, aims to launch the formal sale process in the fourth quarter and to have sold the stake by the middle of next year, when it also plans to take the final investment decision on the development. "We don’t have any doubts about the project, but we currently have a 60% interest and it makes sense for us to bring in a partner," said Mr. Durrant, who stepped up from his role as finance director to CEO of Premier in late June. Premier is looking to sell a 20% to 30% stake in the project. He said there was "significant interest" in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple