Analysts and investors are trying to figure out the point at which oil prices fall too low for Venezuela to continue servicing its debt. The country’s export revenues are 95% oil reliant. “But this week’s fall in the oil price has further fomented worries of a possible default, pushing up Venezuelan bond yields to more than 18 per cent and boosted credit default swaps to over 2,230 basis points.” [Financial Times]
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is conducting 3 investigations into last winter’s extremely cold weather that caused infrastructure bottlenecks and price spikes. One concern is that companies manipulated prices to take advantage of the situation. [The Hill]
The government of India announced plans to purchase 15 GW of solar power from developers over the next 5 years. “In this phase of the NSM, part 1 of tranche 1 will consist of 1,000 MW. The government will buy power from a maximum of 20 developers, and each project size is limited to 50 MW. Each developer can bid for up to five projects with a total of 250 MW.” [Renewable Energy World]