Venezuela buys ConocoPhillips’ stake in offshore natural gas project

October 12th, 2009 Barrick buys Xstrata assets in Chile for $465MNEW YORK — Barrick Gold is snapping up mining assets with its excess cash, inking a $465 million cash deal to buy a gold and copper project from a unit of Xstrata. The Toronto-based company will acquire a 70 percent interest in a Xstrata Plc's El Morrow project, an advanced gold-copper project located in the Atacama Region in Chile.

October 7th, 2009 Conoco raises dividend, to sell $10B of assetsNEW YORK — ConocoPhillips on Wednesday said it will increase its quarterly dividend 6 percent, sell $10 billion of assets and lower capital spending in 2010 in an effort to strengthen its financial position. The third-largest U.S.

October 6th, 2009 Report: ExxonMobil buys stake in African oil fieldCOLUMBUS, Ohio — ExxonMobil has bought Kosmos Energy's stake in oil blocks offshore the West African country of Ghana in an area that contains huge crude discoveries, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The deal would be the first by one of the world's largest oil companies in the area, the newspaper said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

September 25th, 2009 20-year-old brunette wins Miss VenezuelaCARACAS, Venezuela — Marelisa Gibson, a 20-year-old brunette, has been crowned Miss Venezuela and will represent the beauty-obsessed South American country at next year's Miss Universe pageant. The annual Miss Venezuela pageant is the one of Venezuela's most watched programs and a source of national pride.

September 18th, 2009 Brazil's Lula defends South America arms buildupBRASILIA, Brazil — Major military weapons purchases by Brazil and Venezuela won't spur an arms race in South America and are necessary to protect borders and natural resources, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Friday. Silva also downplayed concerns raised this week from U.S.

September 10th, 2009 Chevron signs $60B gas deal with S. Korea, JapanSYDNEY — Energy giant Chevron signed deals worth 70 billion Australian dollars ($60 billion) to supply liquefied natural gas to Japan and South Korea, Australia's prime minister said Thursday.

September 2nd, 2009 YANGON - South Korea's Daewoo International Company will invest $1.7 billion in gas exploration and production projects in western Myanmar, in which two Indian companies have a combined stake of 25 percent, a media report said Wednesday. The gas produced from the Rakhine offshore area will be exported to China in 2013, the weekly Voice reported citing company officials.

August 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Canada-based Niko Resources has said it has found natural gas in the offshore Mahanadi basin block that it is jointly exploring with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). At NEC-25, the AJ2 well discovered gas, Niko announced in its quarterly report for the period ending June 30.

August 14th, 2009 Berkshire reveals changes in stock portfolioOMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire Warren Buffett's company revealed Friday that it had bought a new stake in medical supply company Becton, Dickinson & Co.

August 5th, 2009 Chavez: Venezuela to buy more tanksCARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez says his government plans to buy dozens of tanks because Venezuela feels threatened by pending deal to increase the U.S. military presence in Colombia.

July 31st, 2009 CARACAS - Venezuela and China signed a $7.5 billion agreement Thursday that includes the construction of a 468-km railway in the country with Chinese support, officials said. Public Works Minister Diosdado Cabello told reporters that the railway - which will run from the town of Tinaco, in the northwestern state of Cojedes, to Anaco, a city in the northeastern state of Anzoategui - is the biggest project Venezuela is undertaking outside of the oil industry.

July 7th, 2009 Conoco says production up in 2QHOUSTON — ConocoPhillips, the third-largest U.S. oil company, said Tuesday second-quarter production rose by more than 100,000 barrels from a year ago, but lower crude and natural-gas prices and refining margins are expected to hurt results.

May 14th, 2009 CARACAS - Venezuela has began a project to grow rice using Vietnamese technology, a method that replaces chemical fertilisers with fish in water channels between the rice plots. Officials hope the crop yields would increase by as much as 30 percent after using the method.

May 8th, 2009 Venezuela to pay Ternium $1.97 billion for SidorCARACAS, Venezuela — Ternium SA has agreed to sell its 59.7 percent share in steel maker Sidor to Venezuela for $1.97 billion. The subsidiary of the Argentine-Italian conglomerate Techint has been locked in negotiations over a payment plan with Venezuelan authorities since last year.

January 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's ONGC Videsh may buy a stake of up to 40 percent in an oil block in Kazakhstan, an oil ministry official said Monday. ONGC Videsh, the overseas arm of state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp., may get a share of 30-40 percent in the Satpayev block in the oil and mineral resources rich Central Asian country, the official official said.