Brazil and Venezuela finalized a deal to jointly build and operate an oil refinery in Brazil on Friday as the nations’ leaders signed 15 agreements pledging cooperation in agriculture, energy and technology.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA will hold a 60 percent stake in the new refinery company, and Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) will control the rest, according to a statement from Petrobras, as the Brazilian state-run company is known.
The agreements were signed after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva rode a tractor together at a soybean farm, pledging to boost trade, which totaled US$5.7 billion last year.
PHOTO: AFP
Silva called the agreements a powerful example of South American integration.
He said the two countries and South America as a whole are becoming liberated “from our own blindness; We’ve spent a lot of time without seeing each other, without discovering our potential in politics, culture and trade.”
The two nations have been working since 2005 to finalize the deal; one stumbling block had been a disagreement over the price of Venezuelan oil to supply the refinery. Last year, Petrobras began building the refinery without Venezuela’s help.
The refinery will be capable of processing 230,000 barrels of heavy crude per day and will mainly produce diesel. Petrobras says each company is to supply equal amounts of crude to the refinery, which is projected to cost US$12 billion, up from an initial estimate of US$4 billion.
Meanwhile, PDVSA has agreed to buy nearly half of the government-owned Dominican Oil Refinery (REFIDOMSA) for US$131.5 million, the Dominican Republic’s finance minister said.
Talks to sell 49 percent of the refinery shares concluded late on Thursday after negotiations with a senior Petroleos de Venezuela official, Dominican Republic Finance Secretary Vicente Bengoa said.
“With a partner ... like Venezuela, the refinery over the next years will considerably increase its production and sales,” Bengoa said.
PDVSA official Amilcar Mata said both sides were still working out the final details of the plan, which will be finalized at a ceremony in early this month.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS