Guyana is considering energy alternatives to the Petrocaribe program as Venezuela fails to meet export quotas and tensions flare between the neighboring countries.

More than US$1 billion will have to be invested over the next 20 years to exploit the shale gas of the Vaca Muerta area in Neuquén, which will be used to build between 4,300 and 8,000 kilometres of pipelines and will add five million new clients to the country’s natural gas network, according to a report of the Oil and Gas Institute (IAPG) released yesterday.

Brazil’s congress is likely to pass a landmark bill that could ease financial pressure on state-controlled oil company Petrobras by opening the country’s biggest offshore oil discoveries to greater foreign and private investment.

At Amuay, this oil-rich country’s largest refinery, workers say they risk toxic-gas exposure as they wait for Petróleos de Venezuela SA, the state energy giant, to replace rusted pumps and corroded pipelines, a process that is taking years.

Brazilian senators on Wednesday debated alternatives to a 2010 law that requires state-run oil firm Petrobras to take a minimum 30 percent stake in new development contracts and function as operator in Brazil's subsalt oil areas.

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) recently discovered oil off Guyana’s coast but the country is involved in a land dispute with Venezuela, which can potentially disrupt the oil major’s exploration activities.

Topaz Energy and Marine is eyeing expansion into South America in the next two years as the Dubai-based oil services firm looks beyond the current difficulties in the sector caused by the lower oil price,

Brazil's state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA was forced to stop oil and natural gas output at its P-40 offshore platform after a gas leak, the country's petroleum regulator ANP said in a statement on Monday.

The National Petroluem Agency (ANP) of Brazil found another “megareserve” in the Atlantic, this one off the coast of Sao Paulo. It is believed to big as large as the so-called Lula oil field, which holds between five and 8 billion barrels of oil. Although the discovery is made in the pre-salt fields that stretch from as far north as Espirito Santo, down to Rio, Sao Paulo, Parana and, finally, Santa Catarina states, it is in an area that is not regulated by the current pre-salt partnership model. That means this oil is 100% government owned.