Search

Opec producer Venezuela has experienced tumultuous change since an opposition-led strike last December brought state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDV)--and much of the economy--to a standstill. In this PIW [...]

Bolivians will vote Sunday on proposed constitutional reforms that would give the central government complete control over the development of oil and gas resources. The vote comes as the government [...]

Venezuela's National Assembly has overwhelmingly approved President Hugo Chavez's proposal for amending the constitution to allow indefinite reelection of the president. Meanwhile the government is scrambling to deal with the [...]

Colombia's state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol said Thursday it will invest $6.2 billion in 2009, up 35% from an estimated $4.6 billion this year. The increase is in line with the [...]

Ecuador could become Latin America's first casualty of freefalling oil prices if the Opec member country defaults on interest payments on its foreign debt that are due on Monday. President [...]

Russia's Lukoil signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Wednesday with Argentina's state-controlled Energia Argentina (Enarsa) and private downstream group Pobater. Observers said the deal, while adding to Lukoil's growing [...]

Citing an unexpectedly high level of interest from oil companies, state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDV) said it will add more blocks to the bidding round for development of the Carabobo [...]

Buoyed by his victory in recent regional elections, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez plans to hold a constitutional referendum in the coming months that would allow him to remain in office [...]

China's President Hu Jintao is expected to sign oil deals with Cuba during an official visit to the island this week. The Asian country's interest in Cuba mirrors that of [...]

Venezuela's upcoming state and municipal elections are likely to reflect an erosion of popular support for President Hugo Chavez, with the opposition expected to win several states that are currently [...]

Argentina has announced tax incentives that it hopes will reverse years of decline in its oil reserves and also boost the nation's refining capacity. Under the Petroleum Plus and the [...]

The election of Barack Obama as the 44th US president, and the expanded Democratic majority in Congress, are likely to add momentum to efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, reduce [...]

Latin America's oil-producing countries have been hit recently by the double whammy of falling oil prices and a global financial crisis. Access to credit is likely to become much more [...]

Petrobras of Brazil and Perenco of France have agreed to convert their oil production contracts in Ecuador into service agreements, President Rafael Correa announced at the weekend. The move follows [...]

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela adopted an unusually conciliatory tone towards the US last week, calling for a new relationship between the two countries when a new president moves into [...]

Chile will need investments of around $24.5 billion over the next four years to reduce its heavy dependence on expensive imports of fossil fuels, according to Energy Minister Marcelo Tokman. [...]

Starting next year, the bulk of Latin America's cross-border natural gas deliveries will no longer flow through pipelines but will arrive by ship in the form of liquefied natural gas [...]

Bolivia's state-owned oil company Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales de Bolivia (YPFB) is set to resume drilling for natural gas in October, after delays caused by violent protests against the government's decision [...]

Colombia awarded licenses worth $500 million to nine international oil companies that will explore eight heavy crude blocks near the border with Venezuela, as part of the country's commitment to [...]

Venezuela has signed three agreements with foreign oil companies--including Italian major Eni and Russian gas giant Gazprom--for the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from natural gas basins offshore the [...]

Venezuel 's state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuel (PDV) reported Thursday an almost 1,000% increase in profits during the first half of the year mainly due to record oil prices, [...]

A decades-old legal battle against Chevron for alleged pollution in Ecuador's Amazon is getting increasingly bitter as both sides fire intense accusations at each other in a legal conundrum that [...]

Bolivia's natural gas exports to Brazil were almost completely restored Thursday, after anti-government demonstrators attacked a pipeline during violent clashes in the eastern, gas-producing provinces of the country, where the [...]

Peru announced Wednesday the results of its 2008 bidding round that auctioned off 17 new oil and gas blocks--part of the country's push to attract private investments to develop its [...]

Demonstrators in Bolivia's natural gas producing provinces staged street protests and blocked roads Tuesday, threatening the normal flow of gas exports, as discontent mounts over President Evo Morales' decision to [...]

A consortium formed by companies from Argentina, Chile and Spain will start exploring for oil offshore Argentina in the coming weeks, government officials said on Wednesday. Chile's state-owned Enap Sipetrol, [...]

Venezuela's National Assembly is debating a new law aimed at transferring control of the wholesale gasoline distribution business to state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDV). At present gasoline is distributed both [...]

Brazil and Argentina are moving ahead with plans to expand nuclear power generation in order to meet increasing electricity demand. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva recently said the [...]

An unprecedented increase in oil and gas exploration activity in the most biologically diverse part of the Amazon Basin is threatening to disrupt one of the world's richest areas for [...]

After he held on to his job with a big win in a recall referendum, President Evo Morales of Bolivia now plans to push for controversial constitutional reforms that are [...]

President Hugo Chavez has made changes to the statutes of state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDV) to expand the firm's activities beyond the oil business, according to Venezuela's official gazette. Meanwhile, [...]

Argentina increased electricity rates last week for the first time in seven years, raising hopes among natural gas distributors that they may soon be allowed to implement similar price hikes. [...]

Bolivia plans to increase its natural gas reserves by 10 trillion cubic feet with the help of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDV), according to the head of state-owned Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales [...]

Petrobras said on Tuesday that it had fully restored oil production at its key Campos Basin operations offshore Brazil, where output was disrupted on Monday when workers launched a five-day [...]

The president of oil-rich Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, has offered Central American and Caribbean nations that belong to the Petro-caribe organization improved financing terms for purchasing oil from his country. Chavez [...]

First-quarter financial statements from Petroleos de Venezuela (PDV) show a huge jump in contributions to social spending programs. They also show that the state-owned oil giant has started to pay [...]

Venezuela and Brazil signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday that opens the door for Brazil to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the future from Venezuela's Delta Caribe LNG [...]

Colombia plans to auction around 100 small exploration blocks on Oct. 24 as part of its efforts to reverse a decline in oil production that could turn the country into [...]

Argentina has all the right ingredients to become a world leader in biodiesel production, much like neighboring Brazil has done with ethanol. However, price controls, a lack of investment incentives [...]

Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez has announced a package of measures intended to jump start the economy and rein in escalating inflation. The initiative follows a sharp drop in economic [...]

Chile's President Michelle Bachelet has announced plans to inject an additional $1 billion into the country's Fuel Price Stabilization Fund which is used to subsidize gasoline prices. The move comes [...]

Argentina temporarily cut off natural gas exports to Chile this week and also told local distribution companies to cut domestic supplies of gas to selected industrial users. The moves were [...]