Brazilian state oil company Petrobras will start pumping oil from a Nigerian field on July 21, company officials said on Saturday.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA expects to begin producing oil “of the highest quality” in the offshore Agbami field in partnership with French oil company Total SA and California-based ChevronTexaco Corp, Petrobras’ Nigeria manager Rudy Ferreira told the Agencia Brasil state news service.
The company plans to immediately pump 100,000 barrels a day from the field and will boost output to 250,000 barrels a day by next year, Ferreira said.
Since 1998, Petrobras has invested about US$2.2 billion in oil exploration and production in Nigeria, where it owns shares in three fields.
The company’s Nigerian operations are expected to yield about US$2 billion a year in revenue next year, given oil prices of US$80 a barrel, Ferreira said.
Light, sweet crude oil reached a record US$142.99 a barrel on Friday.
Company officials announced plans to boost African investments last fall, earmarking US$1.4 billion to be used for Nigerian projects and US$900 million for Angolan projects between this year and 2012.
Petrobras is riding a wave of optimism following a handful of major oil discoveries, including more than 5 billion barrels at its offshore Tupi field last year.
In April, a top energy official announced a deepwater find off Rio de Janeiro that could approach 33 billion barrels, among the world’s largest. Petrobras downplayed that estimate, saying further studies were necessary.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity