Odebrecht Sa News

Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA on Friday reported an explosion on the NS 32 drill ship, which is operated by Odebrecht Óleo e Gás, a unit of Odebrecht SA, according to a statement. The explosion wounded four people, three of them with burns and one with mild injuries, according to the statement. There was no subsequent fire after the blast in the Marlim field, Campos basin, and the drill ship is in safe condition, said Petrobras, adding it will investigate the causes of the accident.   (Reporting by Marta Nogueira; Writing by Ana Mano)

China Merchants Group Ltd is in advanced talks to buy Advent International Corp's 50 percent stake in TCP Terminal de Contêineres de Paranaguá SA, Brazil's second-busiest container port, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper said on Thursday. According to Estado, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the transaction, talks with the Chinese state-run company known as CMG gained momentum after Advent's negotiations with Dubai-based DP World Ltd hit a snag. Reuters reported in August that Advent had hired Morgan Stanley & Co and Grupo BTG Pactual SA to sell the TCP stake. Sources said at the time that Advent wanted to fetch a price for the stake that could set a minimum value of 3.5 billion reais ($1.1 billion) for TCP.

Investment management firm EIG Management Co added Brazil's engineering conglomerate Odebrecht SA and a few other shipyards in its $221 million fraud suit against Petroleo Brasileiro SA. EIG, in a filing on Wednesday, alleged that Odebrecht SA and other shipyards along with Petrobras misled the firm to invest over $221 million to purchase equity in now-bankrupt Sete Brasil Participacoes SA. The other shipyards mentioned in the filing by EIG and eight of its managed funds include Keppel Corporation Ltd, Sembcorp Marine Ltd and Jurong Shipyard Pte Ltd. "Through a series of misrepresentations and omissions directed at EIG, Petrobras fraudulently…

Brazilian federal police are investigating potential irregularities in a military program that aims to build a nuclear-powered submarine in partnership with France by 2023, newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported on Wednesday. Folha said police searched for documents that could prove their suspicions of fraud in the program. The search was part of a wider probe that led to the arrests on Tuesday of two executives involved in building a nuclear power plant for state-run utility Eletrobras. Federal police did not respond to a request for comment on whether they were investigating the submarine program. The newspaper did not say how it had obtained the information.

Brazilian petrochemical firm Braskem SA said on Friday it will hold a general meeting on Aug. 4 to appoint a new chairman, after its current chairman was arrested for alleged involvement in a corruption scheme. The new chairman will be Newton de Souza. He will replace Marcelo Odebrecht, chief executive officer of construction company Odebrecht SA, who was arrested last month for alleged involvement in a kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras. (Reporting by Juliana Schincariol; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Clarification: This story has been updated to include the full name a company which is under investigation for involvement in a corruption scandal with Petrobras. The name of the Brazilian company is UTC Engenharia, not UTC as initially reported. There are several global companies known as UTC, and only the Brazilian firm UTC Engenharia is implicated. Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras on Monday said a growing corruption scandal may implicate its employee pension fund and has led to a freeze on payments to 23 contractors allegedly involved in the scheme. Petros, the 66 billion real ($24 billion) employee-pension fund of Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as Petrobras is formally known, was singled out by an internal investigation, Petrobras said in a statement.

Colombia awarded a 2.5 trillion peso ($1.33 billion) contract to a consortium led by Brazil's Odebrecht SA on Friday to improve navigability on the Magdalena River, which the Andean nation has long planned to exploit for cargo transport. Odebrecht will have an 87 percent stake in the joint venture, called Navelena. Navelena was was the only bidder for the contract, which covers a 908 km (564 mile) stretch of the Magdalena, which flows north to the country's Caribbean coast from the southern interior. Colombian construction firm Valorcon holds the remaining stake in the joint venture, Odebrecht said in a statement. The project, focused on building navigation channels in shallower stretches…

Tug Fairmount Summit has delivered the new build drilling rig ODN Delba III safely from the Persian Gulf to a location offshore Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The total voyage covered a distance of 10,625 miles. ODN Delba III is a semi-submersible drilling rig for deep water operations built in Abu Dhabi for Odebrecht Drilling Services, part of Odebrecht S.A., a leading Brazilian multinational. Odebrecht contracted Fairmount Marine to tow ODN Delba III from Muscat, Oman, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. For this job, the Fairmount Summit was mobilized to the Persian Gulf. also contracted Fairmount Fuji. This multi-purpose DSV/supply vessel had just returned to Cape Town after a survey job on the Atlantic Ocean.

The Maritime Administration (MarAd) has approved the sale and transfer of five vessels under section 9 of the Shipping Act, of 1916, as amended. On December 12 2007, MarAd approved an application filed by Rowan Companies, Inc., of Houston, TX. for the transfer of the mobile offshore drilling unit Hank Boswell (Official No. 1183234), to Marshall Islands registry and flag. On December 27, 2007, MarAd approved an application filed by Mobro Marine, Inc., of Green Cove Springs, FL, for sale of the freight barge MB 5500 Official No. 1080955, and the transfer of said vessel to Construction Norberto Odebrecht, S.A. a Venezuelan corporation, and transfer of said vessel to Venezuelan registry and flag.