South America

Average daily oil output at bankrupt Brazilian oil company Oleo e Gas Participacoes SA fell 2.5 percent in May compared with April, according to data released by the company on Thursday, reducing the volume of oil available to pay for its restructuring, Reuters reported. Total output from the company's two producing offshore fields east of Rio de Janeiro was 424,464 barrels, or an average of 13,692 barrels a day (bpd). That compares with 421,287 barrels, or an average 14,043 bpd, in April.

Brazilian bank Banco Cruzeiro do Sul SA on Wednesday sought Chapter 15 relief in Miami, where a liquidator suspects some of its assets are located, after a Brazilian regulator took over its operations, Law360 reported. The bank’s liquidator and foreign representative, Eduardo Felix Bianchini, is asking a Florida bankruptcy judge to recognize the liquidation pending before the Central Bank of Brazil as the foreign main proceeding. The Central Bank seized Banco Cruzeiro’s and its affiliates’ assets in June 2012.

A majority of creditors of Brazil's Oleo e Gas Participacoes SA approved the terms of restructuring plan for the bankrupt oil and gas exploration and production company, its lawyers said Tuesday, Reuters reported. Oléo e Gás, formerly known as OGX Petróleo e Gás Participações SA, filed Latin America's largest-ever bankruptcy-protection petition in Rio de Janeiro on Oct. 30. "The challenge now is for the company to operate as a going concern," said Sergio Bermudes, a partner at Sergio Bermudes Advogados, which is one of the law firms representing the company.

A group of small creditors in the bankrupt former flagship company of Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista have initiated legal action against Deutsche Bank alleging the institution acted unfairly during restructuring of the oil producer’s debts, the Financial Times reported. The lawsuit, filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, alleges Deutsche Bank, the trustee of $3.6bn of defaulted notes issued by OGX Oleo e Gas Participações, favoured majority bondholders in a deal to restructure the company’s debts.

The rescue of the troubled oil firm founded by Brazilian businessman Eike Batista is becoming a legal battlefield, The Wall Street Journal reported. Creditors are scheduled to vote on Tuesday on a plan to restructure Oleo e Gas Participacoes SA, formerly known as OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA, which filed for bankruptcy protection last year. But two creditors have come forward to try to block the vote.

Argentina has reached a landmark deal with the Paris Club of creditor nations to pay a longstanding $9.7bn debt in its latest move to win back confidence from international capital markets, the Financial Times reported. After marathon negotiations in Paris, ending after midnight on Wednesday, Argentina agreed to pay the debt that remained from its 2001 default over five to seven years. The government will pay $650m in July, and a further $500m by May 2015. The deal marks an important step in Argentina’s efforts to attract foreign investment.

The chief executive of Brazil's Oleo e Gas Participacoes said Thursday he is confident the oil and gas company will manage to exit bankruptcy protection despite efforts by some of its creditors to derail the company's restructuring plan, The Wall Street Journal reported. Bondholders will gather in Rio de Janeiro to vote Tuesday on a restructuring plan for the company, formerly known as OGX. Earlier this week, one of the company's creditors was able to get an injunction from a judge in Rio aimed at stopping that vote.

Argentina's government stressed on Tuesday that it will continue to service restructured debt regardless of the outcome of its legal fight with bondholders who refused to accept its debt-restructuring offers, Reuters reported. The government laid out its position in a statement ahead of filing its latest court papers in the U.S. Supreme Court in the high-profile litigation. The nine justices are set to consider whether to hear Argentina's appeal on June 12.

Oléo e Gás Participações SA, OGXP3.BR +6.25% Brazilian businessman Eike Batista's oil company, announced late Friday changes to its restructuring plan, placing in the spotlight a $1 billion put option that the former billionaire never repaid, The Wall Street Journal reported. Rio de Janeiro-based OGP, formerly known as OGX Petróleo e Gás Participações SA, filed for bankruptcy protection in October 2013. In December, creditors accepted a restructuring plan that would have canceled the put option. But, in March, prosecutors, who are investigating Mr.

Eike Batista’s bankrupt shipbuilder, OSX, has presented its long-awaited restructuring plan, seeking approval to pay back its $2.6bn of debt over 25 years, the Financial Times reported. Under the proposal, Brazil’s former richest man plans to ensure the company’s survival by leasing the areas OSX owns in the vast Açu Port complex in Rio de Janeiro. It may also seek to raise additional funds, possibly through the sale of stakes in the company, OSX said in the plan it presented to a Rio court late on Friday.