Tag: Brazil

Brazilian mining company Vale informed that it received a notice from the Mangaratiba City Government, in Rio de Janeiro, on March 11th, ordering the temporary suspension of port activities at the Guaíba Island Terminal. Vale claimed that it has all the necessary licenses for the regular operation of the terminal, issued by the competent authorities and it will take all appropriate measures to re-establish its activities at TIG. 

Petrobras reported a hose rupture on February 23, at P-58 during the offloading of oil to a relief vessel. This caused an oil spill of about 188 m³. The offloading procedure was stopped immediately. The platform is in safe condition, while there are no victims or impact to the operation. Initial simulations show that there is no risk that the slick will reach the coast.

Brazil has closed a port terminal operated by miner Vale SA in Vitoria, in the southeastern state of Espirito Santo, Brazil. Specifically, Vitoria fined the company 35 million reais ($9.5 million) for throwing mining residues in the sea. Commenting on the development, Vitoria Mayor Luciano Rezende noted that 'pollution cannot be justified by tax revenue any more'.

Drewry reported that due to the latest disaster at the Brazilian mine, Córrego de Feijão, it is possible that the Capesize demand will be decreased by approximately 35-40 vessels in 2019. In a timeframe of one year, one Capesize vessel transfers two million tonnes of iron ore from Hedland to Qingdao, while the same vessel ships just 0.7 million tonnes in a year from Itaqui to Qingdao.

According to EIA’s January Short-Term Energy Outlook, the predictions are that global benchmark Brent crude oil is to average $61 per barrel in 2019 and $65/barrel in 2020, experiencing an increase from the end of 2018. Yet, it will remain lower than the 2018 average of $71/b US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices were $8/b lower than Brent prices in December 2018, and EIA expects this difference to narrow to $4/b in the Q4 of 2019 and during 2020.

South African authorities have seized 706 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of R720 million, hidden on a container ship coming from Brazil, in the Port of Ngqura, Coega Harbour. The ship was coming from Brazil and was to dock in Singapore before reaching its final destination in India.

The Accident Investigation Board of Norway released its report on the work accident on board the Normand Maximus off the coast of Brazil on 21 February 2017. Because of the incident one died, while another one got seriously injured and three persons sustained minor injuries.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc is guilty of a small amount of crude oil spill during a ship-to-ship oil transfer in Brazilian waters on November, as the company confirmed to Reuters.

The Panama Canal signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Brazilian Port of Itaquí, to promote the shipment of grains and other cargoes in the commercial route of northern Brazil to countries located in the Pacific, through the Canal.

Brazilian prosecutors announced earlier this week that major oil traders Vitol, Trafigura and Glencore had paid over $30 million in bribes to  Petrobras employees. Petrobras employees offered these companies lower prices for oil, along with storage tanks, in more than 160 separate operations.