Bankrupt Oil News

A year after the epic collapse of his industrial empire, Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista's financial and legal troubles appear far from over. Once worth more than $30 billion and listed as the world's eighth-richest man by Forbes Magazine, Batista says his debts now exceed his assets by $1 billion and the value of his remaining stakes in the oil, shipbuilding, mining and transportation companies he founded continues to shrink. Batista also faces criminal and regulatory investigations into suspected insider trading and fraud. On Monday, a judge ordered Batista, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, to testify on Nov. 18, the first step in a legal saga that experts say could drag on for months, if not years.

Oleo e Gas Participacoes SA, the bankrupt oil company controlled by Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista, received a $44 million offer for five oil exploration and production blocks in Colombia, the company said on Friday. The offer involves $30 million in cash and the assumption of $14 million in future exploration obligations in Colombia, Oleo e Gas said in a statement. It did not give the name of the investor or company making the offer. Oleo e Gas was formerly known as OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA. If approved by a bankruptcy judge, creditors and Oleo e Gas shareholders, the sale will help the Rio de Janeiro-based company pay for leases on offshore oil production ships and its share of investments in output in Brazil, the company said.

Brazils federal police have opened an investigation into former billionaire Eike Batista for financial crimes, including insider trading, manipulation of markets and money laundering, Brazilian media reported on Friday. If the police probe leads to criminal charges against Batista, it would be yet another major blow for a businessman once hailed as Brazil's model entrepreneur and symbol of its economic success. Batistas EBX oil, mining and logistics empire, which two years ago was valued at $60 billion, collapsed last year in a mountain of debt and massive filings for bankruptcy protection. A week ago, Brazil's securities commission…

Eike Batista, who was Brazil's richest man for most of the past decade, is under investigation for allegedly engaging in insider trading while he chaired his now-bankrupt oil-producing and shipbuilding firms, securities industry watchdog CVM said on Friday. In a statement sent to Reuters, Rio de Janeiro-based CVM confirmed that Batista is a respondent in six of nine probes that executives of his Grupo EBX conglomerate are facing for breaching securities rules. In two of them, regulators are examining whether Batista allegedly took advantage of his access to privileged information.