Page 12 - LatAmOil Week 06 2023

LatAmOil BOLIVIA LatAmOil

(Gas exports to Brazil account for around 30% search of new fields, he said.
of all of Bolivia’s gas output.) Wood Mackenzie noted, however, that
As mentioned previously, Dorgathen YPFB’s previous efforts on this front had come
believes YPFB can reverse this trend by heavily up short. In 2021, the company had planned to
investing in gas production capacity. The NOC explore 20 wells across the country yet ended up
is therefore preparing to explore 32 prospected drilling just three wells, and all of them turned
areas in Bolivia’s southern and eastern regions in out to be dry. ™

URUGUAY
ANCAP chief: Refinery overhaul

will force Uruguay to import fuel

URUGUAY will have to import petroleum “The more frequent the adjustment, the less
products during the last four months of the year one loses against the other – the less ANCAP
in order to meet demand while the national oil loses against society, and the less society loses
company (NOC) ANCAP carries out a remod- against ANCAP,” he added, alluding to the
elling project at the country’s only refinery. company’s decision not to raise pump prices for
According to Alejandro Stipanicic, the pres- motor fuel, even though world crude oil prices
ident of ANCAP, the NOC’s La Teja oil-process- would have justified a hike.
ing plant will have to be taken offline between ANCAP’s La Teja refinery is capable of pro-
September and December of 2023 in order to cessing about 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) of
address problems caused by a reactor failure. crude oil. It has been in operation since 1937,
The refinery is usually idled every five years for and its primary purpose is turning out light
repair and refurbishment, he noted, but at this petroleum products for Uruguay’s domestic
point it has continued to run for no less than market. The facility is connected to an oil termi-
seven years. nal in the port of Montevideo.
The suspension of operations is expected to
impose some financial burdens on ANCAP, he
added. The company expects to incur around
$72mn in losses between September and
December of this year, he told the Surtidores
news service.
This would be the longest shutdown in the
refinery’s history, Surtidores added.
Despite the decision to defer maintenance
and repairs, ANCAP has been able to keep the
plant financially profitable “because of frequent
adjustments,” Stipanicic said. He did not explain
the exact nature of these adjustments but indi-
cated that he was referring to measures that were
designed to benefit Uruguayan consumers. ANCAP’s La Teja refinery has a throughput capacity of 50,000 bpd (Photo: ANCAP)

PERU
Peru LNG’s exports rise m/m in January

PERU LNG, the operator of a natural gas liq- loaded five vessels in January, up from four
uefaction plant and export terminal in Pampa in December 2022. The total volume of LNG
Melchorita, has reported that it saw LNG export loaded last month amounted to more than
volumes rise month on month in January 2023. 355,213 tonnes. This represented a rise of almost
According to Peru’s national oil company 28.29% on the volume of just over 288,121
(NOC) Perupetro, the Peru LNG consortium tonnes loaded in the previous month.

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 06 08•February•2023