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Venezuela National Guard attacks barriers

People in the western Venezuelan city of San Cristobal, where the current eruption of anti-government unrest began early last month, say National Guard troops have attacked and dismantled barricades that protesters had raised at key intersections. Local TV journalist Beatriz Font and other witnesses say guardsmen fired a lot of tear gas, including at nearby residential buildings, according to The Associated Press. They say the attack began before midnight and continued into early Monday. Font said the guardsmen broke windows and several people reported from apartment buildings near the intersections that children and elderly people were being affected by the gas. The disturbance began a day after hundreds of National Guardsmen in riot gear and armored vehicles prevented an "empty pots march" from reaching Venezuela’s Food Ministry on Saturday to protest now-chronic food shortages. President Nicolas Maduro’s government, meanwhile, celebrated an Organization of American States (OAS) declaration supporting its […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Brazil prepares for the second great LNG bailout

Brazil should give up electricity for Lent, a Rio de Janeiro-based analyst told Interfax on Wednesday, with a touch of gallows humour. However, it is no laughing matter: the hydropower-dependent country has just recorded the second-driest January in 80 years, and the prospect of electricity rationing looms. The 100 days between Carnival and kick-off for the 2014 World Cup now threaten to be the toughest period of Dilma Rousseff’s presidency. Rousseff, who has staked her political credibility on the lights staying on, is likely to write blank cheques for LNG to bail out the power sector. Analysts blame both the structural weakness of Brazil’s power sector – which affords the country little flexibility during supply tightness – and poor policy decisions for the situation. As reservoir levels run low, costly LNG imports appear to be the country’s last resort for the second consecutive […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Expanded Panama canal 'should be in operation' by Jan 2016

Tokyo (Platts)–7Mar2014/225 am EST/725 GMT The Panama Canal Authority expects the expanded canal "should be in operation by January 2016" after a trial period, Silvia de Marucci, ACP’s manager of marketing and forecasting, said Friday. Marucci made the comments in response to a question at the International LP Gas Seminar in Tokyo. "In January 2016, we are expecting to be operational" after a period of testing at both the Atlantic and Pacific side of locks, Marucci said. At the moment, the expansion is 65% complete, she added. The latest target is seven months behind a previous estimate of June 2015. The project was originally scheduled for completion this year. Next week, ACP intends to sign a final agreement with its contractor for the expansion project, Marucci told Platts ahead of the conference Friday. "Works were stopped about a month ago but resumed two weeks ago and we are very […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Expanded Panama canal ‘should be in operation’ by Jan 2016

Tokyo (Platts)–7Mar2014/225 am EST/725 GMT The Panama Canal Authority expects the expanded canal "should be in operation by January 2016" after a trial period, Silvia de Marucci, ACP’s manager of marketing and forecasting, said Friday. Marucci made the comments in response to a question at the International LP Gas Seminar in Tokyo. "In January 2016, we are expecting to be operational" after a period of testing at both the Atlantic and Pacific side of locks, Marucci said. At the moment, the expansion is 65% complete, she added. The latest target is seven months behind a previous estimate of June 2015. The project was originally scheduled for completion this year. Next week, ACP intends to sign a final agreement with its contractor for the expansion project, Marucci told Platts ahead of the conference Friday. "Works were stopped about a month ago but resumed two weeks ago and we are very […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Two dead in Venezuela violence as protests drag on

A Venezuelan soldier and a motorcyclist died in a confused melee sparked by the opposition’s barricading of a Caracas street, officials said on Thursday, boosting the death toll from nearly a month of violence to 20. Demonstrators have for weeks staged rallies and set up barricades to demand the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro, leading to clashes with security forces and government supporters. Motorcycle drivers clearing a barricade in the middle-class neighborhood of Los Ruices were attacked by residents from nearby buildings who threw rocks and later shot at them, National Guard Gen. Manuel Quevedo told Reuters. The motorcyclist who was killed, Jose Cantillo, who was in his early twenties, was shot in the neck, Quevedo said. "Make no mistake, the National Guard and the armed forces are going to continue patrolling the streets to restore order," he said in an interview at the scene of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Brazil Drought Jolts Commodities' Prices

Brazil’s worst drought in decades is decimating crops but breathing new life into battered commodity markets. It hardly has rained in some of the South American country’s top farming regions since the start of the year, a period when precipitation is usually the heaviest. Traders, analysts and government forecasters who were calling for record harvests in coffee, sugar and soybeans as recently as December are cutting production estimates, triggering a spike in futures prices that may translate into higher costs for consumers later in the year. Futures prices for the arabica coffee variety are up 67% since the start of the year. Raw-sugar prices have risen 8%. Soybeans, which have been affected by drought in some areas and too much rain in others, also are up 8%. The withered coffee trees and parched sugar-cane fields stand in contrast to the bumper crops that have weighed on commodities […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Brazil Drought Jolts Commodities’ Prices

Brazil’s worst drought in decades is decimating crops but breathing new life into battered commodity markets. It hardly has rained in some of the South American country’s top farming regions since the start of the year, a period when precipitation is usually the heaviest. Traders, analysts and government forecasters who were calling for record harvests in coffee, sugar and soybeans as recently as December are cutting production estimates, triggering a spike in futures prices that may translate into higher costs for consumers later in the year. Futures prices for the arabica coffee variety are up 67% since the start of the year. Raw-sugar prices have risen 8%. Soybeans, which have been affected by drought in some areas and too much rain in others, also are up 8%. The withered coffee trees and parched sugar-cane fields stand in contrast to the bumper crops that have weighed on commodities […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Ecuador January Crude-Oil Export Revenues Down 10% on Month to $1.06 Billion

Ecuador’s crude-oil export revenues totaled $1.06 billion in January, down 10% from December, the central bank said Wednesday. In terms of volume, Ecuador exported 11.57 million barrels of crude oil in January, a 12% decrease from the previous month. Crude oil is Ecuador’s main export, which the Andean country sends primarily to Asia, the U.S. and the Caribbean. The average price of crude oil in January increased 1% to $91.40 a barrel from the previous month. All of the oil was exported by Ecuador’s state-owned companies. The central bank also said Ecuador produced 17.05 million barrels of crude oil in January. Petroecuador, Petroamazonas and Rio Napo, the three state-run oil companies, produced 13.21 million barrels in January, while private companies produced the remainder. According to official projections, Ecuador could produce about 741,000 barrels of crude oil per day by 2019. Reaching this goal will require investments […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Venezuela's Maduro breaks diplomatic links with Panama

Venezuela’s President, Nicolas Maduro, has broken diplomatic relations and frozen economic ties with Panama. The decision comes after the Central American nation requested a meeting at the Organization of American States (OAS) to discuss Venezuela’s crisis. Mr Maduro was speaking to other Latin American heads of state at events to mark the first anniversary of the death of the Venezualan leader Hugo Chavez. At least 18 people have died in anti-government protests in the last month. "I’ve decided to break political and diplomatic ties with the current government of Panama and freeze all trade and economic relations from this moment on," Mr Maduro told the presidents of Cuba, Raul Castro, Uruguay, Jose Mujica, and Bolivia, Evo Morales, among other leaders gathered around the tomb of Mr Chavez. ‘Conspiracy’ Panama’s President […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Venezuela’s Maduro breaks diplomatic links with Panama

Venezuela’s President, Nicolas Maduro, has broken diplomatic relations and frozen economic ties with Panama. The decision comes after the Central American nation requested a meeting at the Organization of American States (OAS) to discuss Venezuela’s crisis. Mr Maduro was speaking to other Latin American heads of state at events to mark the first anniversary of the death of the Venezualan leader Hugo Chavez. At least 18 people have died in anti-government protests in the last month. "I’ve decided to break political and diplomatic ties with the current government of Panama and freeze all trade and economic relations from this moment on," Mr Maduro told the presidents of Cuba, Raul Castro, Uruguay, Jose Mujica, and Bolivia, Evo Morales, among other leaders gathered around the tomb of Mr Chavez. ‘Conspiracy’ Panama’s President […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple