South America

Venezuela has world’s largest oil reserves

April 15, 2014 | South America

Caracas, Venezuela | – The Venezuelan Oil and Mining Ministry announced Monday its proven crude oil reserves amount to 298.35 billion barrels, meaning Venezuela is home to the world’s largest oil reserves. The ministry said it was adding 1.673 billion barrels to its inventory from reserves located in the Orinoco Belt and other areas, according to official government newspaper Gazette. Sites throughout the Orinoco region have been certified to have an additional 467.246 million barrels, while the oilfields in the region of Junin have contributed …

Shell sells stake in Brazil oilfield to Qatar for $1billion

January 29, 2014 | Mergers, Acquisitions & JVs, South America

London, UK – Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which plans to dispose about US$15-billion in assets, sold part of its stake in an oilfield off Brazil to Qatar Petroleum International Ltd. for about US$1-billion. Shell agreed to sell a 23% holding in the Parque das Conchas field, or BC-10, to Qatar’s state-run energy company. It will retain a 50% stake and will continue to operate the field, The Hague-based Shell said today in a statement. “The transaction continues the growing stream of announcements relating to planned …

Blow for Falklands as oil production plans pushed back

August 22, 2013 | Development / Production, South America

Shares in Rockhopper and Premier Oil fall after exploration firms delay plans to extract 248m barrels from Sea Lion field Hopes of an early start to oil production off the Falkland Islands have been dashed with British oil companies saying they will not now take a final investment decision until the end of next year. Shares in the London-listed Rockhopper Exploration fell 18% and Premier Oil 4% in early trading after both firms confirmed that the timetable for developing the Sea Lion field was falling behind schedule. Premier, which took over …

Foster Wheeler bags refinery EPCm contract in Venezuela

July 20, 2012 | Construction & Installation, Contracts, Engineering, South America

PDVSA Petróleo has selected a Foster Wheeler’s Global Engineering and Construction Group subsidiary for the engineering, procurement services and construction management (EPCm) contract for its refinery expansion project. The EPCm contract for the El Palito refinery located close to Puerto Cabello, Carabobo state, Venezuela, will be carried out by Foster Wheeler in partnership with Toyo Engineering from Japan and Y & V Ingeniería y Construcción from Venezuela. The expansion project is expected to double the refinery’s capacity to 280,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd), processing …

BG Group oks $4.5billion of FPSO contracts for Brazil

July 20, 2012 | Construction & Installation, Contracts, South America

International gas major BG Group announced Friday that it and its partners have approved contracts worth a total of $4.5 billion for FPSO facilities connected to Santos Basin pre-salt projects in blocks BM-S-9 and BM-S-11, offshore Brazil. The contracts, for the construction of the first six topside modules and integration packages for eight FPSO (floating, production, storage and offloading) units, represent “another milestone in the fast-track, first-phase development of the big five pre-salt discoveries in BM-S-9 and BM-S-11”, said BG Group in a statement. BG …

Spain’s Repsol sells Chile unit for $540 million

July 19, 2012 | Mergers, Acquisitions & JVs, South America

Spanish energy firm Repsol is selling a Chilean natural gas unit for $540 million in cash and will use $317 million of the proceeds to pay off debt. Repsol SA says in a statement Wednesday that it is selling Repsol Butano Chile to a consortium of Chilean investors. Repsol Butano Chile holds a 45 percent stake in the Lipigas natural gas firm, a major player in sales of bottled gas used by residences and business. Repsol says Lipigas controls 38 percent of Chile’s bottled natural …

Petrobras discovers oil in Brazil’s Espírito Santo basin

July 12, 2012 | Licensing & Concessions, South America

A new post-salt deepwater discovery was made by Petrobras in Brazil’s Espírito Santo basin, with the operator saying the block is already being lined up for development. The Brazilian state-owned major hit the new oil accumulation named Grana Padano within the BM-ES-24 concession (Block ES-M-661), located 58 km (36 miles) off the coast of Vitória. The discovery, containing oil with an API of 15°, lies 64 km (40 miles) from the operator’s Golfinho field in a water depth of 1,208 m (3,963 ft). The discovery was confirmed by gas …