South America

The maritime agency NABSA announced on Tuesday that U.S. grains trader Bunge will finish loading 30,000 metric tonnes of Argentine soymeal destined for China by Wednesday. This is the first time such a cargo has been loaded. Bunge sent a soybean meal shipment to China in July. Last month, the company diverted the sale from China to Vietnam due to "commercial reasons." According to NABSA’s daily port activity reports, the Sumatra ship will be loaded at T6 terminal which Bunge jointly operate with Argentina’s AGD, in the port city of San Lorenzo north of the agricultural hub city of Rosario....

Argentina has rich copper deposits along the border with Chile in the mountains of the north. But, unlike its mining giant neighbor, it hasn't built the power lines and road needed for new projects supported by BHP and Rio Tinto. The South American nation faces greater challenges to build infrastructure than other countries due to President Javier Milei’s austerity program to curb inflation and debt. The solution will probably include unconventional ideas such as paying royalties or sharing infrastructure among miners. The government has said that it will not provide funding but this does not mean it's not responsible for...

According to data from vessel tracking and company documents, Venezuelan oil exports fell by about 10% in July compared to the previous month. This was because key partners of the state-owned PDVSA were waiting for U.S. approvals to expand their operations in the nation. Washington granted a limited license to Chevron in late July, allowing it to export crude oil to the U.S. and operate in Venezuela under sanctions. The license does not permit any payments to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s administration. Several other PDVSA partners still await similar authorizations. Mike Wirth, Chevron's CEO, said Friday that the company is...

Chevron's CEO stated on Friday that the company expects to resume its Venezuelan crude exports to the United States this month. This follows a limited license issued by the Treasury Department this week to operate within the sanctioned nation and to do oil swaps. In a conference call to announce the company's quarter-end results, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said that exports would begin with "a limited amount" and that he did not expect that flows will have a significant impact on the third-quarter results. Chevron has suspended its exports of Venezuelan crude oil since April when the state-owned PDVSA cancelled...

Aena, the Spanish airport operator, announced on Wednesday that its net profit for the first half of the year was up 10.5% compared to the same period last year as the passenger traffic in the second most visited country worldwide after France continued to increase. The company that manages Spanish airports, the largest airport system in the world in terms of passenger traffic, announced on Wednesday that it had made a profit of 893.8 millions euros ($1.03billion) during the first half of the year. This was slightly below the average analyst's forecast of 904.2million euros based on an LSEG study....

Two sources said on Friday that Piergiorgio Peluso will be taking over as Chief financial officer at Telecom Italia. Peluso served as TIM CFO from 2007 to 2019. People said that he will return to the former phone monopoly in the next month. TIM and Autostrade per l'Italia spokespeople declined to comment. Sources previously said that TIM was looking for a replacement to the current CFO Adrian Calaza as he will be leaving the company at the end of this year. Calaza, a Brazilian national of Argentinean descent and former CFO at TIM's Brazilian division, will take on the role...

His lawyer stated on Friday that the former Greek owner of a cargo vessel, which was seized by Spain 2023 after it was found to have carried more than four tonnes of cocaine and coffee beans from Latin America into Europe, denied any connection to drugs. The Spanish authorities found cocaine worth approximately $200 million aboard the Blume vessel, which was then Greek-operated and Togo-flagged, when they intercepted it in January 2023 off the Canary Islands. This was one of Spain's largest cocaine hauls for that year. The crew was arrested and Blume, the ship that had left Brazil to...

Three people with knowledge of the investigation confirmed on Thursday that Greece had arrested three individuals linked to a cargo vessel seized in 2023 by Spanish authorities near the Canary Islands for transporting more than 4.5 tonnes of cocaine from Latin America into Europe. Blume (a Togo-flagged vessel operated by Greece) had arrived from Brazil with a cargo of 200 tonnes, which was far less than its capacity. This raised suspicions. The Spanish authorities seized the drugs, worth hundreds of millions, and arrested the entire crew on January 18, 2023. They then took the ship to Santa Cruz, Tenerife, where...

On Tuesday, commodity traders said that they are in a race against time to sell as much Brazilian coffee into the United States as possible before Trump's new tariff of 50% on Brazilian products takes effect on August 1. The cost of Trump's tariffs was being passed onto consumers, and this included coffee cups. Some traders divert vessels mid-journey and cancel stops in other port so that containers full of Brazilian coffee can be entered U.S. ports with no tariff. Some send the Brazil-origin beans they had in Canada or Mexico that were meant to be used there instead, on...

Mexican officials announced on Tuesday that they want to increase state and military control of the country's aviation system, and include increased subsidies and investment in order to boost regional airports which have been neglected for a long time. Claudia Sheinbaum, the president of the United States, has redoubled her efforts to follow the path of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who, as her mentor and predecessor, handed control of several public airports over to the military, and revived the bankrupt airline Mexicana. David Sandoval is the deputy director at Grupo Mundo Maya - a military-run airport operator. He said that...

The Brazilian courts are seeking to overturn the competition rules that prevent global shipping groups from taking part in the first round bidding for a new major container terminal to be built at Latin America's biggest port. This is due to happen later this year. According to a document obtained by, the Danish shipping company Maersk sued Brazil's marine transportation authority (Antaq) and its general manager on Monday in Sao Paulo. The lawsuit demanded "procedural corrections to ensure a fair procedure" for the assignment of the Tecon 10 Terminal at the Port of Santos. The Brazilian federal audit court, TCU,...

Blueberry bushes as tall as two meters stretch to the horizon in Peru's Pisco Desert before giving way to dunes. Genetic innovations have allowed varieties such as Eureka Sunset to grow in this type of arid terrain, some 250 km (155 miles south of Lima). Since more than a century, the healthy berries are being shipped north to U.S. grocery shelves. But there's a new competitor in town: China. The United States is fighting a trade war with other countries, and Peruvian growers are seeking new markets to sell their products. Their best customer, America, has been increasing the tariffs...

The country's Tourism Minister said that at least 900 tourists had been stranded in the vicinity of Peru's ancient Inca citadel, Machu Picchu, on Tuesday after a passenger rail service was suspended because of a protest. The train operator PeruRail announced that service was suspended Monday due to "rocks of different sizes" blocking the route through Peru's Cusco region, which is a mountainous region. Local residents and bus companies clashed over this issue. Protesters claim that there is a lack in transparency and fairness when it comes to replacing Consettur, the tourist bus operator, after their concession has expired. This...

On Thursday, the Cuban Energy and Mining Ministry announced that 80% of Havana had power and the majority of the energy grid of the country had been restored 24 hours after its collapse, which left 9.7 million residents without electricity. Lazaro Güerra, the director of electricity at the Ministry, said that "electricity coverage is increasing and we will be generating about 1000 Megawatts today." The restoration process is progressing well. "We are nearing the end of the restoration process of the electrical system," said he. POWER SYSTEMS IN A LONG TERM CRISIS This system has been in crisis since years....

Brazil has connected Roraima, the state in the north, to its national grid. President Luiz-Inacio Lula said this on Wednesday as he called South America for greater integration of energy. Roraima was the last state to be unconnected in Brazil. The government announced that the connection will reduce carbon emissions and save 600 million reais (111 million dollars) annually in fuel costs. Lula, at a recent event, said that Brazil's interconnected system was a "model for the world". He added that, if other South American nations connected their systems with Brazil's, then "no country will be without energy in the...

Authorities said that the national grid of communist Cuba collapsed on Wednesday morning for the fourth consecutive time in less than one year, causing a blackout across the country. The Energy Ministry and National Electric Union stated that "there has been a complete disconnection of Electric System SEN which could be related to an unexpected outage at the (thermal plant) CTE Guiteras." Grid operator indicated that the collapse of the grid in the Caribbean island occurred at 9.14 am (1314 GMT). The ministry announced that it is investigating the causes and that restoration has already started. Before Wednesday's grid failure,...

Data from LSEG and market sources showed that Russia's seaborne gasoil and diesel exports dropped 6% in August compared to the previous month, as drone strikes from Ukraine affected production. Ukraine intensified its drone attacks against Russian oil facilities last month, targeting major refineries in the south and central Russia on a daily basis. This was done ahead of a scheduled meeting between U.S. president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin. According to calculations, this led to the shutdown of at least 17%, or 1.1m barrels per day in Russia's oil-processing capacity. Shipping data revealed that the amount of...

The two companies announced on Monday that Eletrobras, a Brazilian power company, has partnered up with C3 AI in order to use artificial intelligence for the operation of the electric transmission network. Eletrobras will be the largest operator in Brazil in this segment. The tool C3 AI Grid Intelligence, which is aimed at monitoring and resolving problems in real-time, across all its transmission assets, will be implemented. The deal's value was not disclosed. In a joint press release, the companies stated that artificial intelligence will increase the resilience and reliability of the network on a large-scale, by, for example correcting...

Petroperu, a state-run company, is working with Petroecuador on a framework deal to connect Ecuador's oil wells with the northern pipeline of Peru. This was announced by its chairman on Thursday. The agreement is currently being drafted by Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mines and would include commitments to invest and execute a connection line of approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) in an Amazonian area on the shared border between the two countries. Petroperu Chairman Alejandro Narvaez stated that "the exact investment and the financing of this connection have yet to defined." The executive, speaking at a press conference with...

A crude oil pipeline in Colombia's north has been shut down due to an explosive attack, Cenit, the operator of the state-owned oil company Ecopetrol said on Wednesday. Cenit said that the attack took place in a rural part of the Arauquita Municipality. It did not result in any injuries or deaths, but it prompted the company to activate its emergency protocols in order to contain the spill. Cenit didn't attribute the attack directly to a particular group. However, the Colombian armed forces claim that there are dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in the area....

Dina Boluarte, the president of Peru, said that the country is weighing whether or not to approve a series of new mining projects, worth $6 billion, in an effort to increase revenues. Her government, which is deeply unpopular, wants to improve the revenue from the industry. Boluarte, in his traditional Independence Day speech to Congress, said that the government is evaluating 134 exploration projects and exploitation plans. Officials from Peru, which is the third largest copper producer in the world, are currently in negotiations with informal miners. They launched protests late in June and blocked a major transport corridor that...

The massive seizure of mercury by Peru shows the widespread use of toxic metal Mercury used in gold mines destroys Amazon rainforest Gold prices soar in Amazon, fuelling illegal mining By Dan Collyns According to a report from the Environmental Investigations Agency, SUNAT (Peru's Customs Agency) found illegal mercury in Lima’s Callao port district, four metric tons. "This SUNAT action has prevented this chemical having a severe impact on the health of people and the environment as can be seen by several areas of the nation devastated by illegal mercury use and illicit activities," SUNAT stated in a press release....

Enagas, the Spanish gas grid operator, announced on Tuesday that it had made a profit of 176 millions euros ($205.66) during the first six months of the year. This was after it suffered a loss of capital on the sale an asset in America last year. The swing was also influenced by gains from a sale and the revision upward of the amount awarded in arbitration for an investment in Peru. Enagas recorded a net loss in the first six months of 2024 of 211 millions of euros, due to a capital loss of 360 million of euro on the...

Unknown actors have bombed Colombia's Cano Limon - Covenas Oil Pipeline, said Cenit on Sunday. This has led to the suspension of oil pumping between the oil fields located in Colombia's northeast, and the Caribbean Coast, where oil is exported. According to Cenit (a subsidiary of Ecopetrol, the majority state-owned oil company), the attack took place in a rural part of Saravena in Arauca. No injuries or fatalities were reported. Cenit, the company that owns the pipeline, stated that the bombing activated a contingency planning to control spills, and contamination of the environment. Cenit has not attributed the attack to...