Page 10 - LatAmOil Week 06 2023

LatAmOil VENEZUELA LatAmOil

While that project is underway, a $498mn deal
is anticipated to be signed shortly for the com-
panies to also revamp the 955,000 bpd Para-
guana refinery complex on the coast of western
Venezuela.
The Paraguana revamp project will report-
edly allow NIORDC to hire contractors and out-
source work to repair five of the complex’s nine
distillation units. Paraguana, which comprises
the Amuay and Cardon refineries, was operat-
ing at just 25% of capacity in January despite the
restart of Amuay’s catalytic cracker.
Iran will lead the procurement of parts,
installation and inspection before handling
the refinery’s operations back to PdVSA. The
planned distillation unit overhaul will combine The Cardon refinery is part of PdVSA’s Paraguana complex (Photo: PdVSA)
Chinese and Iranian parts and equipment in
refineries originally built using US technology. work. The whole facilities need to pass through
The integration of the new and old components a revamp or a major maintenance programme.”
is considered to be a significant challenge but if A project to restore the complex’s dilapi-
the revamp succeeds, a larger overhaul may well dated power supply is also planned as part of the
be anticipated in 2024 and 2025. revamp, according to the sources.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirab- Crude supply to the Amuay and Cardon
dollahian arrived in Caracas last week to meet plantscould be modified to increase transpor-
Venezuelan Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami, tation fuel output, as NIORDC did at El Palito,
according to tweets from the Iranian embassy where Iranian oil was added to the refinery’s
in Caracas and Venezuela’s Oil Ministry. feedstock. Iran’s technicians also are considering
Speaking to Reuters, Caracas-based energy adding upgraded crude from the Petromonagas
expert Nelson Hernandez said: “If the distilla- project, a joint venture between PdVSA and a
tion plants do not work, the refinery does not state-owned Russian oil company. ™

GUYANA
Frontera estimates total cost of drilling

Wei-1 exploration well at $160-170mn

CANADA’S Frontera Energy has said it expects
the cost of drilling Wei-1, the second explora-
tion well at the Corentyne block offshore Guy-
ana, to reach $160-170mn.
In a statement outlining its capital expendi-
ture and production guidance for 2023, Frontera
explained that this figure represented the total
cost of sinking the well, including expenses
incurred in 2022 due to pre-drilling operations
and the delayed arrival of a contracted rig. It also
estimated its share of the total costs at around
$120-140mn, in line with its equity stake in
Corentyne.
Frontera currently holds a 68% stake in the
block. It recently expanded its holdings to obtain
a majority via a deal with its subsidiary CGX
Energy, which serves as operator of the project Wei-1 is being drilled 14 km north-west of the Kawa-1 well (Image: CGX Energy)
According to Frontera, the partners spudded
Wei-1 using the Noble Discoverer drillship in target Maastrichtian, Campanian and Santoni-
late January at a site 14 km north-west of Kawa- an-aged stacked sands within channel and fan
1, their first exploration well. The new well is complexes in the northern section of the Cor-
being sunk in 1,912-metre-deep water and “will entyne block,” the statement said.

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 06 08•February•2023