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Venezuelan Soldiers Deployed to Stores

CARACAS, Venezuela — The Christmas shopping season has started with a jolt here, with the socialist Venezuelan government dispatching soldiers to “occupy” a major chain of electronic goods stores, ordering prices slashed there and in other shops that it has accused of price gouging. Huge crowds formed outside stores in several cities over the weekend as inflation-weary Venezuelans showed up hoping for bargains. Others took the government’s order as a license to loot: Some posted cellphone videos online showing large-screen televisions and other items being carted off in Valencia, the country’s third-largest city. The dramatic measures, ordered on Friday by President Nicolás Maduro, were reminiscent of the populist gestures of his immediate predecessor, Hugo Chávez, the country’s longtime leader who died in March . They come as the government grapples with serious economic problems, including inflation of 54 percent a year and shortages of many basic goods, including toilet […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Brazil greenhouse gas emissions lowest in 20 years

SAO PAULO (AP) — Emission levels of greenhouse gases in Latin America’s biggest country fell last year to their lowest in two decades, a Brazilian network of environmental groups said in a report released Thursday. The Observatorio do Clima, or Climate Observatory, network is comprised of more than 30 non-governmental organizations focused on climate change. It said greenhouse gas emissions amounted to 1.48 billion metric tons in 2012 compared to 1.43 billion metric tons in 1992. Their highest point was 2.86 billion metric tons in 1995. The report measured gas emissions caused by deforestation, farming, the energy and industrial sectors and the burning of crop residues. Emissions from deforestation have dropped, but emissions from the other activities have risen and could go up more because of gasoline subsidies and increased use of thermal power, it said. Although they have dropped sharply, emissions from deforestation are still responsible for most […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Venezuela PdVSA Says Debts Resolved With 76% of Service Providers

By Kejal Vyas MARACAIBO, Venezuela–State energy company Petroleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA, has paid off some 76% of its more than 5,000 service providers who have reported long delays before receiving payments owed by the oil giant, Venezuela Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Thursday. Mr. Ramirez declined to specify in dollar terms how much was paid of the company’s total debt to service providers, which rose 35% last year to $16.7 billion. However, he said officials aimed to erase the remaining 24% of owed money over the next two months. “We want to start 2014, a year of production increases, with a private sector that doesn’t have the pressure of the debt,” Mr. Ramirez told investors at an oil conference. “We are fixing all of our affairs with private companies,” he added. PdVSA, which is the breadwinner for Venezuela’s economy and finances the government’s politically important social programs for […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Superior Energy Equipment Seized by PDVSA in Venezuela

Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company, seized about $1 million worth of equipment from Superior Energy Services Inc. (SPN) , the Houston-based company said. PDVSA expropriated two hydraulic units that were idled after the Caracas-based company missed payments, Greg Rosenstein, head of corporate development, said by phone from New Orleans. The units operated in eastern Venezuela’s Anzoategui state, Associated Press reported Nov. 1. The move follows comments by Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez on Sept. 11 that private companies unwilling to work with PDVSA on increasing production capacity should leave the country. Superior has operated in Venezuela for 15 years. “We were surprised by the takeover as we have had a cordial relationship with PDVSA,” Rosenstein says. “We continue to work with PDVSA and the Venezuelan authorities and look to resolve this issue soon.” The so-called snubbing units have a combined value of about $1 million and Superior’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Rebels in Colombia Hit Energy Sector Hard in 'Black October'

BOGOTA—Colombia’s energy sector, the main driver of its economy, is limping away from “Black October,” a term coined by Marxist rebels who set forth on a month-long blitzkrieg, attacking oil pipelines, coal trains, electricity plants and transmission towers in a show of strength during peace talks with the government. There were roughly two dozen attacks during October on high-profile targets like oil pipelines, according to security analysts and companies. That was more than double the number of attacks in September and by far the highest for any month this year, according to analysts. The Colombian government usually comes out with a count months later. Colombia’s army declined to comment. Most of the attacks are believed to be the work of the country’s main guerrilla force, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The attacks add to doubts about the rebels’ sincerity in reaching a peace agreement with the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Rebels in Colombia Hit Energy Sector Hard in ‘Black October’

BOGOTA—Colombia’s energy sector, the main driver of its economy, is limping away from “Black October,” a term coined by Marxist rebels who set forth on a month-long blitzkrieg, attacking oil pipelines, coal trains, electricity plants and transmission towers in a show of strength during peace talks with the government. There were roughly two dozen attacks during October on high-profile targets like oil pipelines, according to security analysts and companies. That was more than double the number of attacks in September and by far the highest for any month this year, according to analysts. The Colombian government usually comes out with a count months later. Colombia’s army declined to comment. Most of the attacks are believed to be the work of the country’s main guerrilla force, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The attacks add to doubts about the rebels’ sincerity in reaching a peace agreement with the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Venezuela’s government seizes US-owned oil rigs

Page added on November 3, 2013 Venezuela has quietly seized control of two oil rigs owned by a unit of Houston-based Superior Energy Services after the company shut them down because the state oil monopoly was months behind on payments.   The seizure took place Thursday after a judge in the state of Anzoategui, accompanied by four members of the local police and national guard, entered a Superior depot and ordered it to hand over control of two specialized rigs to an affiliate of PDVSA, the state-owned oil producer.   PDVSA justified the equipment’s expropriation, calling it essential to the South American nation’s development and welfare, according to a court order obtained by The Associated Press. Company workers were instructed to load the rigs, known as snubbing units and used to repair damaged casing, onto trucks to be deployed at “critical wells” elsewhere, according to the document.   “It […]

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Petrobras pegs success to Libra oil field

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 31 (UPI) — Production from the offshore Libra area in Brazil is expected to help Petrobras reach its long-term objectives, the company’s president said. State-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro, known also as Petrobras, said it expects the first oil to be extracted from the Libra area in 2020. Company President Maria das Gracas Silva Foster said investments in Libra will be more significant as 2020 draws nearer. Oil workers with Petrobras staged a strike in mid-October to protest the auction for Libra. They wanted better wages and opposed a congressional measure for outsourcing of workers. Royal Dutch Shell, French energy company Total, China National Petroleum Corp., China National Offshore Oil Corp., and Petrobras, won a 35-year production sharing contract last week for the Libra field in the Santos Basin off the coast of Brazil. Foster said in a statement Wednesday the terms of the auction were “clear, […]

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Eike Batista’s Empire Soared, Then Melted Into Bankruptcy

RIO DE JANEIRO—In 2006, Eike Batista strode into Rio’s opulent Copacabana Palace hotel for cocktails with a Canadian pension fund looking to play Brazil’s rise. The Brazilian entrepreneur captivated his hosts with a brazen pitch: He aimed to be the world’s richest man, and investors along for the ride would prosper, too. “The way he says it, it doesn’t sound crazy,” says Brian Gibson, then a senior vice president with the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan, which organized the reception. “As an investor, you are looking for someone who is hungry,” Mr. Gibson says. “I didn’t know if he was going to be the richest or not, and I didn’t care.” Mr. Batista didn’t make it. Instead, he presided over one of the most breathtaking rise-and-fall stories in the history of business. Starting in 2006, Mr. Batista publicly listed five startups in five years, creating a Brazilian commodities empire from […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Eike Batista's Empire Soared, Then Melted Into Bankruptcy

RIO DE JANEIRO—In 2006, Eike Batista strode into Rio’s opulent Copacabana Palace hotel for cocktails with a Canadian pension fund looking to play Brazil’s rise. The Brazilian entrepreneur captivated his hosts with a brazen pitch: He aimed to be the world’s richest man, and investors along for the ride would prosper, too. “The way he says it, it doesn’t sound crazy,” says Brian Gibson, then a senior vice president with the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan, which organized the reception. “As an investor, you are looking for someone who is hungry,” Mr. Gibson says. “I didn’t know if he was going to be the richest or not, and I didn’t care.” Mr. Batista didn’t make it. Instead, he presided over one of the most breathtaking rise-and-fall stories in the history of business. Starting in 2006, Mr. Batista publicly listed five startups in five years, creating a Brazilian commodities empire from […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple