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  Indonesia Strengthens Business Relations with Latin America and The Caribbean at the 5th INA-LAC Business Forum Jakarta, Indonesia - Indonesia continues to expand its business reach to the rapidly-growing Latin American market. The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will again hold the Indonesia-Latin America and the Caribbean (INA-LAC) Business Forum on 16-17 October 2023 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Mega Kuningan, Jakarta. This activity is expected to open wider doors for businesses in the country to explore business opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean region. In its pursuit to deepen business ties with Latin American and Caribbean countries, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has adopted the theme "Forging an Effective Partnership" for the INA-LAC Business Forum 2023. This theme reflects Indonesia's determination to foster strong and effective partnerships with these countries. "The INA-LAC Business Forum is a response to President Jokowi's order that we continue to make [...]

  Biden administration moving to escalate energy trade dispute with Mexico Sept 6 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration has asked U.S. energy companies to prepare affidavits documenting how Mexico’s protectionist policies disrupted their investments as Washington prepares to escalate a trade dispute with its neighbor, according to three people familiar with the discussions. The request for affidavits from major U.S. oil and renewable energy companies represents the latest and clearest signal that the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) plans to seek an independent dispute settlement panel under the United States Mexico Canada Agreement trade pact, or USMCA. Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's steps to roll back reforms aimed at opening Mexico's power and oil markets to foreign competitors ultimately sparked the trade dispute. U.S. energy and power companies, such as Chevron(CVX.N) and Marathon Petroleum (MPC.N), which sought to expand in Mexico, have complained that they have been denied simple [...]

  Oil prices settle up as mild US inflation data calms fear of Fed rate hike July 12 (Reuters) - Oil prices settled higher on Wednesday, with benchmark Brent futures breaching $80 a barrel for the first time since May, after U.S. inflation data spurred hopes the Federal Reserve may have fewer interest rate hikes in store for the world's biggest economy. U.S. data showed consumer prices rose modestly in June and registered their smallest annual increase in more than two years. Markets expect one more interest rate rise, but oil traders hope that may be it. Higher rates can slow economic growth and reduce oil demand. "This is the lowest number since the pandemic ... but it is important to keep in mind that this is still a transitory situation. But overall, traders are cheering this event," said Naeem Aslam, chief investment officer at Zaye Capital Markets, describing the inflation figures. Brent futures [...]

Mexico’s light vehicle production was up 13.9% in the first half of this year compared to the same period of 2022, as the country’s automotive industry continues to recover from the pandemic. According to a report by the nation’s statistics agency INEGI, 1.9 million light vehicles were produced in Mexico between January and June. Of these, 76.5% were light trucks. The rest were cars. The strongest growth was registered by Audi, Honda and BMW Group, with production increases of 152.4%, 124.7% and 109.8%, respectively. The only companies that saw a decline in production were Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, KIA and Stellantis. During June, 331,707 light vehicles were produced in Mexico, a 16.3% annual increase. Exports were up 20.46%, to 286,291 vehicles, while internal sales were up 25.66%, to 113,553 vehicles. The figures are the latest sign that Mexico’s automotive industry is recovering well from the global supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In May, [...]

Analyst Sees No Realistic Prospect of Iran Nuclear Deal Being Restored     The Head of Geopolitics at Energy Aspects, Richard Bronze, has told Rigzone that he doesn’t see any realistic prospect of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) being restored after the failed negotiations over 2021-22. “In recent months, there have been indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran to explore a much more limited agreement that would place a cap on aspects of Iran’s nuclear program, particularly enrichment of uranium to above 20 percent purity, in exchange for a modest easing of U.S. sanctions,” Bronze said. “There is no firm timeline for these diplomatic efforts, but if there is a willingness on both sides to compromise it might be possible to conclude a deal in the next few months,” he added. “One topic that is reportedly being negotiated is an exchange of foreign-national prisoners, so any announcements [...]

Has Texas Heat Affected Oil and Gas Operations?     Texas has been hot lately. Temperatures hit a maximum of 103F (39.44C) in the Midland-Odessa area of Texas on July 9, according to online weather data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, which showed that the maximum temperature in the area was 98F (36.66C) on July 8, 96F (35.55C) on July 7, 97F (36.11C) on July 6, and 98F on July 5. When Rigzone asked the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) if the recent heat in Texas has been affecting oil and gas operations, the organization’s President, Ed Longanecker, said, “most operators we talked to did not experience any significant disruptions during extreme heat conditions”. Longanecker added, however, that “one operator said it was more difficult to operate at times compared to winter weather”. The TIPRO President also told Rigzone that “some producers mentioned that they experienced some challenges with [...]

How to Ruin Your Next Business Trip “routine” medication taken abroad could lead to big legal trouble By Hollie McKay It should have been just an ordinary work trip. Until it wasn’t. In March, a prominent Houston-based engineer jetted off to Mexico – a country he frequents for work – and later returned to the United States, only to discover his bag was left behind in Mexico City. Courier service DHL subsequently shipped back the lost luggage, only for U.S. customs to learn that the pain medication inside was not adequately characterized for “personal use.” On a technicality, U.S. officials sent the bag back to Mexico and requested that the prescriptions be classified correctly. And that is where the nightmare really took hold. A doctor had prescribed the medication, oxycodone and tramadol, many months earlier when the engineer was suffering from acute back pain. However, he had long stopped using the drugs – and [...]

Rosatom to invest $600 million in Bolivian lithium mining The Russian nuclear monopoly Rosatom has agreed to build an industrial complex in Bolivia for the extraction and production of lithium carbonate worth US$600 million. The project will be implemented by the company’s mining subsidiary Uranium One Group in cooperation with the Bolivian state-owned company Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (Lithium Fields of Bolivia). In June 2022, Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos announced that Uranium One Group was one of the main bidders in the tender to develop several major lithium deposits in the country along with the American Lilac Solutions, as well as four companies from China. At that time President of Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (Lithium Fields of Bolivia), Carlos Ramos, said that these applicants provided the best technologies for development of the field and the conduction of mining activities on it. Under the terms of the project, Uranium One Group will develop the Pastos Grandes [...]

UK Government Announces New Oil and Gas Tax Changes The UK government has announced new oil and gas tax changes, which it says are set to protect energy security and British jobs. In a statement posted on its website, the government noted that the Energy Profits Levy, which it highlighted puts a marginal tax rate of 75 percent on North Sea oil and gas production, will remain in place for the next five years while oil and gas prices remain higher than historic norms, but added that the tax rate will fall back to 40 percent “when prices consistently return to normal levels for a sustained period”. While the levy included an investment allowance to encourage firms to continue to invest in oil and gas extraction in the UK, industry has warned that companies are cutting back on investment, the government noted in the statement, adding that this puts the long-term future of the UK’s [...]

Generative AI Will Have Profound Impact Across Sectors Generative AI will have a profound impact across industries. That’s what Amazon Web Services (AWS) believes, according to Hussein Shel, an Energy Enterprise Technologist for the company, who said Amazon has invested heavily in the development and deployment of artificial intelligence and machine learning for more than two decades for both customer-facing services and internal operations. “We are now going to see the next wave of widespread adoption of machine learning, with the opportunity for every customer experience and application to be reinvented with generative AI, including the energy industry,” Shel told Rigzone. “AWS will help drive this next wave by making it easy, practical, and cost-effective for customers to use generative AI in their business across all the three layers of the technology stack, including infrastructure, machine learning tools, and purpose-built AI services,” he added. Looking at some of the applications and benefits of generative AI [...]