Energy Deals News

Venezuela's loss of a key U.S. license that allowed it to freely export and increase investment in its oil sector will hit the volume and quality of its crude and fuel sales while prompting a flurry of requests for individual U.S deal authorizations.U.S. officials had warned that absent progress by President Nicolas Maduro on implementing an electoral roadmap agreed last year, the U.S. would not renew license 44, which since October had eased oil sanctions in place for the last five years.On Wednesday…

India and Russia have agreed on a five-year roadmap to step up cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector, including investment, not only in exploration and production in each other's oil and gas fields but also in downstream projects.India invited Russian companies to invest in its oil refining and petrochemical projects as the two nations vowed to increase energy cooperation going beyond LNG supplies and stakes in Russian oil and gas fields.According to a joint statement issued after India Prime Minister Narendra Modi's annual bilateral summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok, Indian state-owned firms, which already have stakes in four sets of oil and gas fields in Russia…

South Africa's newly appointed energy minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has postponed the signing of agreements between state-run power utility Eskom and renewable energy Independent Power Producers (IPPs), Business Report newspaper said on Tuesday. South Africa is diversifying its energy mix away from an over-reliance on coal-power plants to include greener wind and solar projects. The deadline for signing was on Tuesday, but Kubayi's office asked for the signing to be delayed until she had met with public enterprises ­minister Lynne Brown, who oversees Eskom, the newspaper said. "The process is in their hands. Once they have met and they have agreed on this and that, then we as Eskom we will sign," Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe told Reuters.

India plans to sign energy deals with Russian oil major Rosneft next week to buy stakes in Siberian fields, two sources privy to the deal said, as New Delhi accelerates a push to secure overseas energy assets. India, the world's third biggest oil importer, has to ship in three quarters of its oil needs and a substantial fall in oil prices has added an extra incentive to seal purchases of assets that are now relatively cheap to limit its reliance on imports. Rosneft's Chief Executive Igor Sechin will visit Delhi on March 15-16 to stitch together the deals, the sources said. Rosneft, the world's biggest listed oil company by output, also…

Danish companies are eyeing a series of energy and shipping projects in Iran following a visit this week by the country's foreign minister, local news agencies and officials said on Tuesday. The Danish foreign ministry said its minister, Kristian Jensen, travelled to Tehran with a delegation representing 58 companies on Monday and that exports could increase by 500 million Danish crowns ($72 million) once sanctions against Iran's nuclear programme are lifted. News agency Shana cited Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh as saying Danish companies were interested in developing oil fields in the Caspian Sea including the South Pars gas field, which also produces condensates. Global conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk is in the oil industry through its Maersk Oil unit.

Small and mid-sized independent oil producers in the British North Sea could face a financing squeeze this year as banks cut lending linked to the value of oil reserves, following last year's oil price sell off. Unlike the oil majors, which can slash headcount and delay projects, smaller firms tend to be reliant on few fields, and those that are mid-project have little choice but to continue with their capital expenditure. "Where companies have committed to projects when the oil price was $100-plus and their capital budget was set in advance…

Barclays Corporate oil and gas team announces it has provided funding for global energy deals amounting to US$1.26billion so far this year. The facilities have been provided for organisations operating in the UK and internationally, comprising bilateral and syndicated debt and trade lines for activities such as mergers and acquisitions as well as corporate funding. The figure has already exceeded the team’s US$1billion total of new deals in 2010. The announcement comes as thousands of delegates from across the world gather in Aberdeen for the biennial Offshore Europe exhibition.

Reuters has reported that Iranian shipbuilder SADRA said it would build 10 ships for Belgium's Exmar to export Iranian liquefied natural gas (LNG) although Iran's efforts to produce the fuel are deadlocked. The total value of the 10 high-technology vessels would be $2.4b, Iran's Industry Minister Alireza Tahmasbi told state television. He told the ISNA students news agency that SADRA might sign a another deal for four more ships. High-value energy deals with Iran put companies at risk from U.S. sanctions. Washington accuses Iran of seeking nuclear arms, a charge Tehran denies. Iran has lacked the investment and technology to develop its reserves for export.