Petrobras: First Annual Profit in 5 Years
Brazilian state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA reported its first annual profit in five years on Wednesday as it swung to a net profit in the fourth quarter, although one-time provisions and writedowns led it to miss estimates.In a securities filing, Petrobras, as the company is known, said fourth-quarter net income rose to 2.102 billion reais ($564 million), compared with a loss of almost 5.5 billion reais in the same period a year earlier.Chief Executive Roberto Castello Branco…
Petrobras to Appeal Dutch Ruling Favorable to Vantage Drilling
Brazil's state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA said on Wednesday it will appeal an unfavorable Dutch court ruling related to the suspension of a drilling contract with U.S.-based Vantage Drilling Co.Petrobras said it was informed that a Dutch court had granted a request by the U.S.
Brazil Charges Former Vantage Drilling Chief with Corruption
Brazilian federal prosecutors on Thursday charged the former chief executive of U.S. oil services company Vantage Drilling with corruption and money laundering, accusing him of offering $31 million in bribes to public officials.Federal prosecutors said in a statement that the charges against former CEO Paul Bragg related to irregularities in a 2009 contract worth $1.8 billion to charter a drill ship to state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasiliero SA.Reuters was unable to locate Bragg or his representatives. Bragg was CEO of the Houston-based company from 2006 to 2016.
Vantage Drilling wins $622 mln Settlement against Petrobras
Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petrobras has been fined $622 million by an international tribunal for breaching a 2009 contract with a unit of Vantage Drilling, the U.S.-based rig contactor said on Monday. The tribunal found that Petrobras and its units, Petrobras America Inc (PAI) and Petrobras Venezuela Investments and Services (PVIS) breached a drilllship contract with Vantage Deepwater Co. In 2016 (https://reut.rs/2KKTLwo), Petrobras executive Jorge Zelada was sentenced…
Former Petrobras Exec Sentenced over Vantage Drilling Contract
A Brazilian judge sentenced the former head of state-run oil company Petrobras' international division to 12 years and two months in jail for corruption and money laundering on Monday, part of the country's largest-ever graft investigation. Federal judge Sergio Moro said Jorge Zelada had unduly awarded U.S. company Vantage Drilling a 2009 contract with Petrobras for the drillship Titanium Explorer in exchange for bribes stashed in undeclared accounts in Monaco and Switzerland.
Samson Bankruptcy Spotlights Offshore Rig Situation
The most significant bankruptcy of the current oil downturn has shone a spotlight on what is perhaps the most oversupplied corner of the energy world: the market for offshore rig services. Samson Resources Corp, an independent oil producer bought just four years ago for $7.2 billion, said in its late Wednesday filing for creditor protection that a 60 percent crude price slide had upended its business. In the offshore space, restructurings and asset sales are widely seen as likely and some chief executive officers are now openly talking about acquisitions.
Brazil Prosecutors: Charges Pending over Ensco Drillship Lease
Brazilian prosecutors plan to file criminal charges stemming from the lease of an Ensco Plc offshore oil-drilling ship to Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras "in due course," they said. The plan to prosecute over the Ensco-Petrobras charter was mentioned in a Thursday statement presenting corruption charges stemming from the 2009 lease of another drillship, Vantage Drilling's Titanium Explorer Rig. In the Vantage case, prosecutors formally charged six people, including Petrobras' former international-unit chief Jorge Zelada.
Former Petrobras Executive Arrested (Update)
Brazilian police arrested Jorge Zelada, former director of Petrobras' international division, as part of an ongoing investigation into bribery and corruption at the state-run oil producer, prosecutors said on Thursday, July 2nd. Zelada is suspected of money-laundering, appropriating public funds, corruption, tax evasion and contract fraud. He was taken into custody early Thursday as part of the graft probe that has already ensnared dozens of Brazil's top executives. Prosecutor Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima said Zelada…
