Page 15 - LatAmOil Week 33 2021

LatAmOil
NEWS IN BRIEF
LatAmOil
Eric Smith, Director, Oceaneering Survey Ser- vices, said: “We are excited to continue to pro- vide support for operations offshore Guyana and to have the opportunity to expand that into geophysical and geotechnical survey services.” Oceaneering, August 10 2021
POLICY
API signs MoU with Guyana National Standards Agency to advance best-in-class industry practices
Today, the American Petroleum Institute (API) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS), which provides Guyana’s primary standards setting agency access to API oil and gas standards and increases collaboration on safety guidelines and requirements for the country’s growing energy industry.
“We are pleased to partner with GNBS to advance safe and sustainable energy develop- ment in Guyana,” Senior Vice President of API’s Global Industry Services Debra Phillips said. “This agreement brings proven API standards to Guyana at the inception of its energy resources development, prioritising safety, sustainability and environmental protection at this critical moment.”
The MoU expands the ability of American and Guyanese subject matter experts to collab- orate. Ongoing joint meetings and workshops with GNBS will be used to adopt and promote API’s best-in-class standards, protocols, guide- lines and recommended practices to enhance safety and environmental practices in Guyana.
“We see our role in this promising industry as critical in ensuring its success, and we look forward to partnering with the American Petro- leum Institute to standardise practices and pro- cedures through the adoption of API Standards and other guidelines,” Deputy Director of GNBS Ramrattie Karan said.
The partnership reinforces several steps taken by API and Guyana in recent years to strengthen co-operation on information sharing
and training. API also signed an MoU earlier this year with the Centre for Local Business Devel- opment, Guyana’s premier organisation for nat- ural gas and oil information, training and policy advocacy. The MoU with the Centre focuses on opportunities for collaboration to support the technical capacity of Guyanese firms in the sec- tor and will be bolstered by the additional collab- orationwithGNBS.
Guyana’s offshore oil production began in 2019, signaling a major step forward in estab- lishing the country as a significant new energy producer. The country’s GDP rose 26% in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Inter- national Monetary Fund projects Guyana’s GDP to grow 8% in 2021.
GNBS is a semi-autonomous governmen- tal organisation responsible for standards and quality assurance in Guyana. It is the only National Standards Body in Guyana and oper- ates under the Ministry of Tourism Industry and Commerce.
API represents all segments of America’s nat- ural gas and oil industry, which supports more than 10mn US jobs and is backed by a growing grassroots movement of millions of Americans. Our 600 members produce, process and dis- tribute the majority of the nation’s energy, and participate in API Energy Excellence®, which is accelerating environmental and safety progress by fostering new technologies and transparent reporting. API was formed in 1919 as a stand- ards-setting organisation and has developed more than 700 standards to enhance opera- tional and environmental safety, efficiency and sustainability.
API, August 13 2021
PERFORMANCE
Touchstone issues Q2-2021 results, operational update
Touchstone Exploration has reported its oper- ating and financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2021.
Operational and Financial Highlights: Achieved quarterly crude oil sales of 1,402 bar- rels per day (bpd), an 8% increase relative to the preceding quarter and consistent relative to the 1,396 bpd produced in the same period of 2020.
Despite COVID-19 challenges in Trinidad, executed an incident free $6.664mn exploration programme, primarily focused on Cascadura Deep-1 and Chinook-1 well production testing, Royston-1 lease and drilling expenditures, and the Royston area seismic programme.
Realised crude oil prices averaged $59.06 per barrel, representing a 13% increase from the first quarter of 2021 and a 101% increase from the
second quarter of 2020.
Generated an operating netback of $26.30 per
barrel from an average Brent price of $68.98 per barrel.
Despite limited petroleum asset capital investment of $125,000, generated funds flow from operations of $1,205,000 compared to a $450,000 use of funds flow in the second quarter of2020.
Recognised a reduced net loss of $284,000 ($0.00 per share) compared to a net loss of $2,742,000 ($0.01 per share) in the 2020 equiv- alent quarter.
Liquidity remained strong as we ended the second quarter with cash of $11.214mn, a work- ing capital balance of $4.671mn and $7.5mn drawn on our term credit facility, resulting in a net debt position of $2.829mn.
Entered into revised 10-year lease operating agreements for our Coora-1, Coora-2, WD-4 and WD-8 blocks through December 31, 2030.
Executed an amendment to our $20mn term loan facility agreement, extending the principal availability period from June 15, 2021 to Decem- ber 31, 2021, thereby allowing us to access the outstanding $12.5mn available balance prior to the end of the year.
Spudded our final Ortoire minimum explo- ration commitment well, Royston-1, on August 12, 2021.
Paul Baay, President and CEO, commented: “Our second quarter results continue to demon- strate the progress we are making in all areas of our operations in Trinidad and are a testament to the great work done by our dedicated staff amidst a challenging COVID environment.
“The positive cashflow derived from our base assets and our strong liquidity position have allowed us to advance our exploration operations while we work towards initial natu- ral gas production at our Coho and Cascadura discoveries.
“The team has been active in increasing our base oil production through a series of low-cost workovers and well optimisation while pre- paring for the four development well drilling programme planned for the fourth quarter of 2021. On the Ortoire block, we are progressing on all fronts including road construction, bridge repairs, well testing, seismic shooting, facilities design, pipeline installation and drilling our highly anticipated Royston prospect.
“We remain confident that our available credit facility capacity combined with antici- pated funds flow from operations will be suf- ficient to complete our budgeted four well development programme as well as drilling Royston-1, one of a number of milestones that we forecast to achieve in the second half of 2021 as we conclude the first phase of our Ortoire exploration programme.”
Touchstone Exploration, August 13 2021
Week 33 19•August•2021
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