Venezuela cracks down ahead of protest
A Roman Catholic priest has trekked hundreds of miles from his parish. Tribesmen marched barefoot from the southern Amazon jungle carrying spears. They will be joined by disabled activists from Continue Reading
Venezuela Cracks Down on Opposition Before Massive Rally
President Nicolás Maduro has intensified a crackdown on opponents ahead of Thursday’s major opposition rally to demand a referendum on his rule amid a deepening economic crisis. On Tuesday, police Continue Reading
Colombian peace deal with FARC won’t cure oil industry’s problems: analysts
Analysts and industry sources are skeptical that the peace agreement announced this week between the Colombian government and a rebel group with which it has been at war for a Continue Reading
Exclusive: Venezuela’s oil imports slump on payment woes, economic meltdown
Venezuela has not been able to import all the crude and fuel it needs this year to cover shortfalls at oilfields and refineries as state-run PDVSA struggles to pay suppliers Continue Reading
Is Doomsday Inevitable For Venezuela?
Venezuela is facing the worst economic and humanitarian crisis in its history. Venezuela has been hit by the 24 months collapse in oil prices. Its economy is expected to shrink Continue Reading
Venezuela’s decline prompts exodus
Even without money and a stable job since his arrival in Colombia in early July, Eduardo — not his real name — has regained most of the weight he had Continue Reading
Can Bolivia Capitalize On Its Huge Lithium Reserves?
Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in Latin America, has began shipping lithium to China in what is considered the first step towards fulfilling its ambitions to becoming the world’s Continue Reading
Global oil market faces less Venezuela supply in 2017: Columbia University
Venezuela, traditionally a prominent oil exporter, will make a sharply smaller contribution to the global oil market in 2017 as an acute political and economic crisis affects its crude production, Continue Reading
Venezuela Oil Exports Seen Falling as Economic Woes Worsen
Nation seeing steep crude-output drop: Columbia University Risk to international oil exports from the country is growing The long decline in Venezuela’s oil production is becoming a supply risk for Continue Reading
Venezuela’s Maduro says $70 oil would be balanced price
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro speaks during his weekly broadcast ”En contacto con Maduro” (In contact with Maduro) in Caracas, Venezuela August 9, 2016. Miraflores Palace/Handout via Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro Continue Reading
Cuban oil surveys progressing
A study assessing the resource potential for parts of Cuba is progressing as planned and quickly becoming a key portfolio component, MEO Australia said. The Australian company said it was Continue Reading
Lack of investment, payment delays hamper Venezuela oil output
The flow of drilling mud is seen in a container while an oilfield worker works on a drilling rig at an oil well operated by Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, Continue Reading
Venezuela Raises Wages 50% as Oil Tour Seeks to Lift Prices
Maduro raises minimum wage, salaries for public employees Oil, foreign ministers leave on tour of oil producers Saturday President Nicolas Maduro raised Venezuela’s minimum wage 50 percent and announced that Continue Reading
Venezuela’s Maduro Says He Discussed Oil Prices With Saudi King
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he spoke to Saudi Arabia’s king about boosting oil prices and is reaching out to the heads of state of fellow producers Russia, Iran and Continue Reading
U.S. Refiners Reap Rewards From Latin American Fuel Shortage
From Brazil to Mexico, $36.4 billion in projects were shelved U.S. refiners are operating at the highest rate since November The Latin American refinery bust has proved to be a Continue Reading
Venezuelans flood Brazil border in 36-hour grocery run
Men load boxes of food onto the back of a pick-up truck, after arriving from Brazil, in front of the bus terminal in Santa Elena de Uairen, Venezuela August 2, Continue Reading
Venezuela Seen Staving Off Default Again Even as Crisis Worsens
PDVSA to pay $4.1 billion due by year-end, Aberdeen says Goldman Sachs says country has now fallen into a ‘depression’ Even as Venezuela’s economic collapse deepens, the nation has a Continue Reading
Venezuela issues timeline for presidential recall drive
AP Photo/Fernando Llano CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan elections officials have set a late October date for a recall drive against President Nicolas Maduro, a timeline that makes it unlikely Continue Reading
China Inc. Pursues Power, Glory With Big Brazil Deal
China Inc. is looking to win a gold medal in deal making with a $13 billion takeover of a Brazilian electric company. State Grid Corp. of China, the world’s largest Continue Reading
Chevron: Game up — again — in Ecuador
U.S. supermajor Chevron Corp. said it was victorious in a long-running legal battle against alleged misconduct in Ecuador and a fraudulent lawyer. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Continue Reading
Chevron’s Pollution Victory Opens Door for Companies to Shirk Foreign Verdicts
Chevron wasn’t the only winner in Monday’s ruling by a federal appeals court over its long-running Ecuadorian pollution litigation. The victory, in which the court affirmed that a lawyer for Continue Reading
Venezuela says OPEC, non-OPEC countries may meet in ‘coming weeks’
Venezuela’s Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino talks to journalists before a meeting of OPEC oil ministers in Vienna, Austria, June 2, 2016. A meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC countries may Continue Reading
Chevron Wins Big in $9.5 Billion Oil Pollution Case. But It’s Not Over Yet
The lawyer for Ecuadorian victims fails to sway a U.S. court that he didn’t act illegally. Now, more appeals in the 23-year-old case. Protesters demonstrate in front of a New Continue Reading
Venezuela Announces Effort to Reduce OPEC Production Rates
Maduro Eulogio Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday that his country had begun discussions with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on mechanisms to increase the global oil Continue Reading
Panama Canal revises upward draft restriction for Neopanamax locks
The Panama Canal Authority has revised upward the draft restriction for vessels transiting the Neopanamax locks to 13.41 meters (44 feet) effective immediately. “This draft limit is based on the Continue Reading
Occidental’s Colombia Woes Prolonged as Pipeline Outage Persists
Rain, security situation hampering pipeline repairs: union Three fields operated by company halted since July 15: union Occidental Petroleum Corp. will have to wait at least a few more days Continue Reading
Amid economic hard times, Venezuelans turn to city farming
Facing a national food crisis, Venezuela’s pumpkin-growing socialist president is exhorting compatriots to grow fruit and vegetables on balconies and roofs and in barracks across the country. His government’s “Great Continue Reading
Venezuelan gas exports to Colombia unlikely in short term: analysts
Venezuelan exports of natural gas to Colombia are unlikely in the short term, despite state-owned PDVSA’s claims to have increased its gas production in 2015 by 334,000 Mcf/d or 4.3% Continue Reading
Venezuela lets Jamaica pay off its oil debts in food as shortages worsen
Jamaica has announced it will pay back some of its oil debt to Venezuela in food, medicines and fertiliser as the country’s economic crisis continues. Venezuela is currently suffering from Continue Reading
Earl Could Unleash Hurricane Force Fury on Belize Thursday
Storm could hit Pemex oil operations in Bay of Campeche Fifth named storm since January to menace Atlantic basin Tropical Storm Earl could slam into Belize overnight Wednesday as a Continue Reading
Guerrilla Pipeline Attack Forces Colombia to Shut In Oilfields
Attack affects about 6 percent of the country’s crude output Repairs on pipeline may be concluded by tomorrow: union Colombia, South America’s third-largest oil exporter, shut in production in at Continue Reading
Venezuelan Credit Dashboard: $726 Million Comes Due in August
Oil price starts to decline again as heavy payments loom Venezuela, which has the largest crude reserves on the planet, has defied predictions of default since the oil collapse started Continue Reading
Venezuela Implements ‘Forced Labor’
A new decree by Venezuela’s government could make its citizens work on farms to tackle the country’s severe food shortages. That “effectively amounts to forced labor,” according to Amnesty International, Continue Reading
Venezuela’s armed forces tighten grip as food crisis grows
When two trucks loaded with soldiers pulled up outside his butcher shop in the Barrio Unión slum of eastern Caracas, Daniel felt a deep unease. “They went into all the Continue Reading
Venezuela’s economic woes send a chill over closest ally Cuba
The crisis in Venezuela has spread to its closest ally Cuba, with Havana warning of power rationing and other shortages that some fear could mark a return to the economic Continue Reading
Special Report: In Venezuela’s murky oil industry, the deal that went too far
Even for Venezuela’s notoriously opaque economy, it was a sweetheart deal that went too far. Last August, state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA issued one of its largest tenders Continue Reading
Shale Drilling Set To Take Off In Argentina
Argentina has exceptional hydrocarbon reserves, but politics has greatly affected its development. The economy in Argentina is best described as a “pendulum”, going from loose economic policies in the ‘80s Continue Reading
Rothschild Said to Approach PDVSA Creditors to Form Group
Advisory firm querying investors about interest in bond swap Rothschild believes PDVSA management open to transaction Rothschild & Co. is approaching Petroleos de Venezuela SA bondholders in a bid to Continue Reading
Petrobras Gets Permission To Halt Production At 16 Oil Platforms
The Brazilian government gave permission to Petrobras to suspend production at sixteen oil platforms as the troubled state-owned firm attempts to reduce costs. As reported in The Rio Times on Continue Reading
Maduro’s Threats Fail to Stop Companies From Exiting Venezuela
Kimberly-Clark became latest company to pull out this month Goverment blames U.S.-led conspiracy and backs factory seizure The multinationals that remained in Venezuela through more than a decade of nationalizations, Continue Reading
Venezuelan President Puts Armed Forces in Charge of New Food Supply System
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro put the armed forces in charge of a new food supply system aimed at alleviating crippling shortages, ceding yet more power to a military apparatus that Continue Reading
Big Legal Move Could Render Argentina Unattractive For NatGas Drillers
Vaca Muerta Argentina has been shaping up as one of the best places on Earth for oil and gas exploration. With high and rising government-mandated prices helping to spur big Continue Reading
Venezuela’s Oil Production Fell to 13-Year Low in June, IEA Says
Annual output seen losing 200,000 b/d, double earlier forecast Oil industry has been hurt by power shortages, economic crisis Venezuelan crude production fell to a 13-year low last month as Continue Reading
Venezuelans cross border in hunt for food
Omar Torres felt a rush of emotion as he crossed the Simón Bolívar bridge between Colombia and Venezuela with his wife and daughters. “We almost cried when we entered Colombia, Continue Reading
Venezuela to seize Kimberly-Clark factory as production ends
Venezuela’s government said Monday that it will seize a factory belonging to Kimberly-Clark Corp. after the U.S. personal care giant said it was no longer possible to manufacture in this Continue Reading
Thousands of Venezuelans stream over border to Colombia
Tens of thousands of Venezuelans streamed across bridges into Colombia over the weekend after Venezuela briefly lifted a year-old border closure to allow people to buy food and medicine. Colombian Continue Reading
Why Did China Grossly Overpay For A Utility In Brazil?
China Utlilties Chinese state energy companies are huge by international standards. Their government wants them to ex-pand overseas and they seem indifferent to conventional standards of profitability. This makes them Continue Reading
Argentina’s ruling party warns of economic fallout without gas price hike
Argentina’s court-ordered suspension of natural gas price hikes could slam consumers with faster inflation and higher taxes, a ruling-party leader warned Friday while also calling on the Supreme Court to Continue Reading
Crisis-struck Venezuela sends fuel oil tankers into tight Singapore market
Crisis-struck Venezuela is sending two supertankers filled with fuel oil across the oceans to Singapore, in what traders described as a surprise move that could help reduce a tight market. Continue Reading
Petrobras Puts Nine Small, Shallow-Water Oil Fields Up for Sale
Brazil’s state-run oil firm Petróleo Brasileiro SA said Monday that it is putting nine small, shallow-water oil fields up for sale, part of a previously announced divestment plan meant to Continue Reading