Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 06 2023

LatAmOil COLOMBIA LatAmOil

However, S&P Global Platts noted that Eco- 2026, he said. It intends to make 60% of future
petrol has already announced plans to spend production available to the refineries themselves
COP5.9-6.8 trillion ($1.25-1.44bn) on energy and will reserve the remaining 40% for indus-
transition projects this year. This will be equiv- tries that face obstacles in reducing carbon emis-
alent to around 23% of the company’s total sions, such as steel manufacturing, he stated.
investments, in contrast to the much lower fig- Ecopetrol is “teaming up with international
ures routinely posted by other oil companies. companies to create some consortiums” for
According to estimates from the International these green hydrogen projects, he added. He did
Energy Agency (IEA), many of the world’s not name any of the potential investors.
largest hydrocarbon producers appear to have Meanwhile, he indicated that the company
allocated no more than 5% of total capex to was making progress toward raising renewa-
decarbonisation projects in 2022. ble energy generating capacity to 3,000-4,000
Bayon also stressed, though, that Ecopetrol MW in order to achieve its goal of bringing
was not looking to push hydrocarbons into the green hydrogen production levels up to 1mn
background. Given the different economics tpy by 2040. Colombia currently has 200 MW
of renewable energy and decarbonisation, the in renewable generating capacity and aims to
company cannot afford to ignore oil and gas, he boost the figure to 400 MW by the end of this
said in the interview. year and again to 1,000 MW by the end of 2025,
“A lot of opportunities in transition [busi- he said. ™
nesses] have lower returns than traditional oil
and gas projects,” he explained. “You need to be
able to fund them, and the best way to do that is
to have a healthy business.”
For its part, S&P Global Platts noted that the
NOC was not scrimping on exploration and
development. The company’s organic invest-
ment outlays for 2022-2024 are slated to reach
$17-20bn, with about 69% of the total going to
upstream oil and gas projects, it said.
In the meantime, Bayon said, Ecopetrol’s ros-
ter of low-carbon projects includes plans for the
construction of two 9,000-tonne per year (tpy)
green hydrogen plants at the Barrancabermeja
and Cartagena refineries. The NOC hopes to
approve these schemes by the end of Septem-
ber 2023 and then bring them online in 2025 or The NOC will build green hydrogen plants at two of its refineries (Photo: Ecopetrol)

VENEZUELA
Iran gears up for Paraguana refinery rehab

THE National Iranian Oil Refining and Distri- condensate, as well as parts and feedstock for
bution Co. (NIORDC) will soon begin a 100- Venezuela’s ageing refining facilities, which have
day process to rehabilitate Venezuela’s largest a combined throughput capacity of 1.3mn bar-
refining complex. rels per day (bpd).
The project is designed to help the refinery’s In May, a unit of NIORDC signed a $119mn
operator, state-owned PdVSA, boost fuel output contract with PDVSA to repair the El Palito
at the Paraguana Refining Centre. This will allow plant in central Venezuela. This 146,000 bpd
the national oil company (NOC) to move away facility is the country’s smallest refinery.
from its reliance on US refining technologies. While that project is underway, a $498mn
Venezuela has struggled in recent years to deal is anticipated to be signed shortly for the
produce enough gasoline and diesel owing to companies to also revamp the 955,000 bpd Par-
refinery outages, even though its crude reserves aguana refinery complex on the coast of western
are among the largest in the world. A further Venezuela.
lack of investment and US sanctions has meant The Paraguana revamp project will report-
that even importing petroleum products has edly allow NIORDC to hire contractors and out-
been difficult. Long lines at fuel stations have source work to repair five of the complex’s nine
been common since 2020. distillation units. Paraguana, which comprises
Meanwhile, Tehran and Caracas have the Amuay and Cardon refineries, was operat-
strengthened bilateral relations in recent ing at just 25% of capacity in January despite the
years, with the former providing crude and restart of Amuay’s catalytic cracker.

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