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Bread prices in Argentina rise as corn and wheat scarcity kicks in

BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 29 (UPI) — Argentina’s wheat and corn distribution chaos, caused by erratic supplies and now widespread scarcity, has finally reached bakeries that are charging exorbitant prices for bread despite government warnings of a crackdown. Corn and wheat shortages began several months ago and weren’t relieved despite what critics called the government’s stopgap measures. The timing of the grain shortage and its direct impact on bakeries couldn’t be worse, critics said as media furor over bread prices and and shortages captured headlines days before Argentina’s mid-term elections. Gaps in supplies of corn were also reported across the country, Argentine media reported. Traders said wholesale prices for both corn and wheat were double those on Chicago markets as profiteering set in. Bakeries said they couldn’t avoid price hikes, forced as they were to pay ever higher rates for flour. Weather vagaries would likely impact on the new wheat […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Petrobras Weighs New Mechanism to Price Gasoline, Diesel

RIO DE JANEIRO—Brazil’s state-run oil and gas company, Petróleo Brasileiro SA, PETR4.BR +1.37% Petroleo Brasileiro S/A Pref Brazil: Bovespa R$ 18.49 +0.25 +1.37% Oct. 25, 2013 5:08 pm Volume : 30.11M P/E Ratio 8.82 Market Cap R$232.34 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee R$3,448,640 10/25/13 Petrobras Weighs New Mechanism… 10/22/13 Brazil Seen Having to Modify O… 10/22/13 Chinese Hunt for Oil in Brazil… More quote details and news » PETR4.BR in Your Value Your Change Short position is taking steps to stem huge losses on sales of gasoline and diesel that have raised questions about its ability to implement a huge investment program. On Friday, the company’s chief executive, Maria das Graças Silva Foster, wrote in a letter to shareholders that the board of directors has been presented with a new way of calculating prices that will have a “beneficial effect” in terms of bringing domestic fuel prices […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Brazil's Petrobras Pulls Plug on Refinery Joint-Venture with PdVSA

RIO DE JANEIRO–Brazilian state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR, PETR4.BR), or Petrobras, late Friday finally pulled the plug on a refinery joint venture with erstwhile Venezuelan partner Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA. While the firm failed to call PdVSA by name, Petrobras said that negotiations with “interested parties” had failed to reach an agreement within a fixed time-frame. The Abreu e Lima refinery under construction in Brazil’s Pernambuco state was incorporated, making it easier to find potential partners, Petrobras said. The $17 billion refinery project was beset with bickering and delays between Petrobras and PdVSA since the project was first launched in March 2008, as part of bilateral agreements signed between then-presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Hugo Chavez. Petrobras, however, pledged to build the refinery alone after PdVSA failed to get loan guarantees from the Brazilian National Development Bank to pay for the Venezuelan company’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Brazil’s Petrobras Pulls Plug on Refinery Joint-Venture with PdVSA

RIO DE JANEIRO–Brazilian state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR, PETR4.BR), or Petrobras, late Friday finally pulled the plug on a refinery joint venture with erstwhile Venezuelan partner Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA. While the firm failed to call PdVSA by name, Petrobras said that negotiations with “interested parties” had failed to reach an agreement within a fixed time-frame. The Abreu e Lima refinery under construction in Brazil’s Pernambuco state was incorporated, making it easier to find potential partners, Petrobras said. The $17 billion refinery project was beset with bickering and delays between Petrobras and PdVSA since the project was first launched in March 2008, as part of bilateral agreements signed between then-presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Hugo Chavez. Petrobras, however, pledged to build the refinery alone after PdVSA failed to get loan guarantees from the Brazilian National Development Bank to pay for the Venezuelan company’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Falklands oil prospecting firms to merge, aim to boost finds

STANLEY, Falkland Islands , Oct. 24 (UPI) — Two of the companies drilling for oil in the Falkland Islands’ South Atlantic waters are merging and further corporate patch-ups may not be far behind, industry analysts said. After several fits and starts, and investor jitters over the prospecting firms’ lackluster performance in the early phase of Falklands oil quest, the British Overseas Territory’s oil economy is stabilizing, analysts said. The oil-fueled optimism in the territories bodes well for companies and existing shareholders and is certain to draw more cash into the venture, made controversial and risky by Argentina disputing both the territory’s British rule and the mainly British oil companies’ right to prospect for oil. Britain and Argentina went to war over the islands in 1982 after an Argentine military junta briefly captured parts of the territories. The 74-day Falklands War led to deaths of 649 Argentine and 255 British […]

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Petrobras-led group wins Brazil oil auction with minimum bid

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazilian state-run energy company Petrobras teamed up with European oil majors and Chinese rivals on Monday to buy the country’s biggest-ever oil field with a lone bid at the minimum price, a disappointing outcome for a sale that was supposed to launch Brazil as a petroleum power. The auction, which proceeded as hundreds of protestors criticized the sale to private companies of the country’s natural resources, was notable because it sparked only a fraction of the appetite that was originally expected. Rather than attract multiple bidders and the many global energy players who had long expressed interest in fast-growing Brazilian discoveries, the auction for the giant offshore Libra oil area drew just one tepid bid from a consortium offering the minimum price allowed. Petroleo Brasileiro SA ( PETR4.SA ), as Petrobras is formally known, took 40 percent of the field in the auction, more […]

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Venezuela denies devaluation coming

CARACAS (Reuters) – President Nicolas Maduro’s government denied on Friday forecasts of an imminent devaluation due to anxiety in Venezuela over shortages of dollars and the soaring black market rate for the greenback in the South American OPEC nation. "A devaluation is not being planned here," said Rafael Ramirez, whom Maduro recently named vice-president in charge of economic policy as well as being oil minister. "This is not a problem of lack of foreign currency," he added, saying Venezuela had ample reserves – about $30.5 billion – combined in the Central Bank, its special development fund Fonden and from Chinese loans. Many private economists have been predicting a devaluation of the bolivar after local elections in December, probably in early 2014. Ramirez said such talk was unjustified scaremongering from business groups and anti-government media. "They want to create panic," he said, casting the devaluation talk as part of a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple