Iberdrola renewables earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were up over 13% in the first quarter of 2019, compared with the same period last year. EBITDA stood at €683.6m, while revenue also grew to over €1.1bn – a 5% increase the company said. Iberdrola said the contribution of its renewables businesses in Brazil, Mexico and the UK, as well as the offshore sector – particularly the Wikinger project – were behind the increases. These contributions more than offset lower production in the US and Spain, it added.

Apr 25, 2019 - Financial Times

Roberto Castello Branco, the new chief of Brazilian oil company Petrobras, was thousands of kilometres away from his desk, at a conference in Chicago, when he faced his first crisis. It was a Friday afternoon and Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president, had just announced he would cancel a scheduled increase in the price of diesel. The decision was designed to stave off a potential truckers strike. But it also sent shares in Petrobras into freefall, knocking about US$ 8bn off its market capitalisation. Investors also feared it showed that Brazil was returning to the bad old day of government intervention under a president who freely admits he knows nothing about economics. “It was a blip. We don’t want to return to this past,” said Mr Castello Branco, rebuffing claims of state intervention in his first interview since the market crash.

Apr 25, 2019 - Americas Quarterly

It’s been a lucrative and eventful month at Brazil's state-led oil firm Petrobras. The company raised nearly US$ 20 billion from two big transactions on April 5 and 9, only to see market value fluctuate wildly over concerns about its fuel pricing policy. Investors grew jittery after the government overruled Petrobras’ decision to phase out diesel subsidies, contradicting the ostensibly pro-market tendencies of the Bolsonaro administration. But despite the messy politics of the pricing controversy, observers trying to get a sense of Petrobras’ long-term direction would do well to keep their eyes on that US$ 20 billion.

Apr 25, 2019 - Mercopress

Bolivia is looking at exporting natural gas globally through liquefaction terminals to be built in Argentina, and to buy crude from its southern neighbor, Bolivian President Evo Morales said, a move that would compensate for dwindling sales of its main export to Argentina and Brazil. Morales discussed the plans with his Argentine counterpart, Mauricio Macri, in Buenos Aires, where they also touched on other proposals to widen energy integration. In a press conference, Morales said they agreed that Bolivia's state-owned energy company YPFB “will participate in investments” to build liquefaction terminals to export LNG from Argentina.