International oil companies, such as Statoil SA of Norway and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, are set to invest $25 billion in Brazil in the coming years, according to Brazil’s industry association for foreign oil companies.

Brazil’s state oil company discovered what some geologists consider one of the biggest global oil strikes in the past 20 years in the Tupi field beneath rock, sand and salt at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The consortium, which includes Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, has proposed postponing the start of production to 2012-13 from 2011, Kazakh Energy Minister Sauat Mynbayev said Monday, according to the Interfax news agency. “We’re trying to come to an agreement again,” he said.

EDS has revenue around $20 billion a year and has a roster of giant clients including General Motors and Royal Dutch Shell.

Oil traders may be in for tougher oversight: Senate Democrats are seeking to crack down on speculation in an overseas market that has come to play a major role in oil trading in a little more than two years.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Royal Dutch Shell PLC dropped out of a preliminary deal to join an Iranian natural-gas project, although it is looking at joining at a later stage, a company spokeswoman said. Shell’s decision is likely to fuel speculation that the company has bowed to U.S. pressure.

Today, according to the WSJ, about a dozen oil companies agreed to pay $423 million to settle litigation with 153 water providers in 17 states over leakage of the gasoline additive MTBE

LONDON — The recent slump in Nigeria’s oil output may have been disastrous for Africa’s largest oil producer, but problems could worsen.

The RiskMetrics report… concludes that most of Exxon’s competitors — including Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC and British Petroleum PLC — have made greater commitments to renewable energy. “The company’s current policy on renewables … has led to substantial reputational damage for Exxon Mobil relative to its peers,” the report stated.

The global surge in food and energy prices is being driven primarily by fundamental market conditions, rather than an investment bubble, say the majority of economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey.

The companies in the settlement include BP America Inc., a unit of BP PLC; Chevron Corp.; ConocoPhillips; Shell Oil Co., an arm of Royal Dutch Shell PLC; Marathon Oil Corp.; Citgo Petroleum Corp.; Sunoco Inc.; and Valero EnergyCorp. At least six companies declined to settle, the largest being Exxon MobilCorp.