Petrobras has cancelled an ongoing tender for heavy and medium helicopters used in its offshore operations. Era Group said Aeroleo Taxi Aero, its Brazilian joint venture, had received notification after Petrobras has carried out a review of its aviation needs. It was concluded no additional contract was needed amid the challenges of the current marketplace.
Brazil’s top electoral court agreed to open an investigation into allegations that President Dilma Rousseff illegally financed her re-election campaign. The charges could provide grounds for her removal from office along with Vice President Michel Temer.
A former chief executive of Petrobras has passed away after battling cancer. Jose Eduardo Dutra, who was 58-years-old, died yesterday following a battle with cancer. The Workers’ Party presidents was a geologist and union leader who was elected as a senator more than 20 years ago.
Transocean Ltd., the world’s largest offshore rig contractor, has been linked for the first time to the corruption probe of Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the state-owned energy giant at the center of Brazil’s biggest corporate scandal. A former executive at Brazil’s state-run oil company has testified to receiving what he says were payments made by someone claiming to be a Transocean agent in exchange for a rig- operation contract from Petrobras. “Transocean has a long-standing commitment to and upholds the highest standards for corporate ethics and compliance,” the company said in an e-mailed response. “Our employees -- and everyone conducting business on our behalf -- are required to adhere to our high standards for integrity, honesty, financial discipline and legal and regulatory compliance.”
Brazil's Petrobas has reported that output rose 4.5% in August to an all-time high of 2.88 million barrels of oil and equivalent natural gas a day from a year earlier.
MODEC said its Floating, Storage, Production and Offloading (FPSO) vessel Cidade de Itaguai MV26 has achieved first oil offshore Brazil. The vessel is working in the Iracema Norte area of the Lula field in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin.
Brazil's largest oil workers' union advised Petroleo Brasileiro SA PETR4.SA that it plans to begin an open-ended strike against the state-run oil company starting at midnight (0300 GMT) on Friday.
BW Offshore said its earnings before tax had been negatively impacted by an accident earlier this year offshore Brazil. The company said the recovery project for the FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) vessel was still ongoing. In March an explosion on the Cidade de Sao Mateus killed nine of the 74 people on board.
The board of directors of Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA approved the sale of at least 25 percent of its fuel unit BR Distribuidora, according to board minutes published in a securities filing late Monday. Reuters previously reported that Petrobras would seek to sell at least a quarter of the unit, which controls Brazil's largest service-station network. A sale is expected as early as the end of this year. Petrobras, as the company is known, wants to sell $15.1 billion of assets by the end of 2016 to help reduce its $132 billion of debt, the largest of any oil company.
Russian energy company Rosneft said on Monday it had registered to take part in the 13th licensing round organised by Brazilian national energy agency Agencia Nacional do Petroleo, Gas Natural e Biocombustiveis. Rosneft said that 10 oil basins and blocks, located onshore and offshore, would be put up for sale at the licensing round.
State-controlled Petróleo Brasileiro SA PETR4.SA agreed on Friday to refinance an outstanding 6 billion reais ($1.7 billion) tax debt with the Brazilian government, allowing the debt-laden oil producer to restructure an onerous liability. Under terms of the plan, the company commonly known as Petrobras will have the debt cut by half, and use tax credits to write down 876 million reais of the remaining amount. The company will use 1.26 billion reais from a judicial cash escrow account to pay part of the debt. The remainder will be paid in installments between this year and 2017, according to a securities filing.
Semi-submersible provider Prosafe has signed a contract with Petrobras for the provision of the new Safe Eurus accommodation vessel for safety and maintenance support offshore Brazil.
The chief executive of Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA estimates it will take five years for the state-run oil producer to win back the credibility it lost among investors after a massive corruption scandal sent some of its top executives to jail. Aldemir Bendine told daily O Estado de S.Paulo that the corruption scandal will weigh on Petrobras as long as investigations continue but that he will keep pushing for management and financial changes in the company.
Royal Dutch Shell is considering investing billions in Brazil, set to become a focal point after the planned acquisition of BG Group, even as it prepares to sell huge chunks of its business to pay for the $70 bln deal. Despite a broad drive to cut spending in the face of persistently low oil prices, Chief Executive Ben Van Beurden remains steadfast in his plans to buy BG, which will transform Shell into the world's biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplier. The company has announced plans to sell around $30 billion in assets between 2016 and 2018 to improve its balance sheet and focus on its core deepwater oil and LNG business.
Petrobas said its net income has fallen by 89% after the company was hit with a one-time charge for underperforming assets. The Brazilian firm’s quarterly profit fell to $150.4million which was affected by a charge to resolve a tax issue with the country’s federal government as well as fines related to its gas and energy, refining and supply and exploration and production units.
Terms for Brazil's 13th Oil Round, in which the government hopes to sell rights to 266 exploratory blocks in early October, "are the worst ever", the Brazilian Petroleum Institute (IBP) that represents potential investors said on Monday.
BG group has achieved first oil from the Cidade de Itaguai floating, production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) in the Santos Basin. The company said the FPSO is the sixth unit to start production across the group’s discoveries, offshore Brazil. The vessel will produce from the Iracema North area of the Lula field in the Petrobas-operated S-11 block.
Brazilian oil workers have begun a 24 hour strike in an effort to halt moves to shrink state-run oil company Petrobas. Union workers, led by FUP – the country’s largest federation of oil workers for refineries and oil platforms – called for employees to walk off their jobs on Thursday at midnight. Petrobas has announced plans to sell $15.1billion of assets by the end of 2016 in a bid to pay down debt.
Brazil's state-run oil firm Petrobras confirmed on Tuesday it had found irregularities in the approval of a 2009 contract to provide naphtha to petrochemical company Braskem SA and had reported the issue to public prosecutors. Petrobras, or Petroleo Brasileiro SA, said in a securities filing that it began investigating the contract based on plea deal testimony from former executive Paulo Roberto Costa and money changer Alberto Youssef in a sweeping graft probe. On Saturday, TV Globo reported that the two revealed a bribe paid by Braskem for a deal allowing it to pay below-market rates for naphtha, causing losses to Petrobras.
The Ibovespa fell for a second day, led by Petroleo Brasileiro SA, after Finance Minister Joaquim Levy said that a credit downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service is more likely if Brazil doesn’t make economic adjustments. Traders also pushed down the value of shares after newspaper Folha de S Paulo reported Saturday that lower house President Eduardo Cunha would rebel against the administration by blocking a fiscal-austerity package designed to shrink the budget deficit. His announcement escalated a political crisis that already had driven President Dilma Rousseff’s popularity to a record low and revived talks of impeachment.
Eight months into OPEC’s plan to hit rival oil producers, the casualties are mounting. Surprisingly, the most resilient may be the one that triggered the fight: the US. Projections for combined daily output from Brazil, Canada, Russia, Mexico and Colombia by the end of the decade were cut by 2.8 million barrels since oil slumped last year, data from the countries and the International Energy Agency show. In contrast, the US Energy Department increased its estimate for crude output in 2020 by more than a million barrels. Prices fell more than 45 percent in the past year after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries refused to cut output, instead pressuring rival producers to eliminate a global supply glut.
Brazilian police carried out their first search and seizure operations involving politicians suspected of taking bribes in a scandal involving state-run oil firm Petrobras on Tuesday, local media and prosecutors said. Senators Fernando Collor de Mello and Ciro Nogueira are among the names being investigated in the 16th round of the probe, dubbed "Politeia", TV Globo and newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo said. A total of 53 search and seizure operations were carried out in order to prevent evidence from being destroyed, according to statements from the police and federal prosecutors.
Marine services group Sea Trucks has won its first contract in Brazil providing accommodation support to Saipem for up to 300 personnel.
A U.S. judge has rejected Brazilian state-run oil producer Petrobras' effort to dismiss a lawsuit claiming that years of corruption, including bribery, caused more than $98 billion of its stock and bonds to be overvalued. The decision by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan was made public on Friday, and clears the way for investors to pursue much of their class action lawsuit. A trial could begin as soon as Feb. 1, 2016. Rakoff dismissed some claims related to Petrobras bonds issued in 2012 and some claims based on non-U.S. transactions, and also said some claims should be arbitrated.
The second of identical twin FPSOs for national operator Petrobas docked in Brazil this week.