Page 10 - LatAmOil Week 01 2020
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Under the new sales contract, PetroTal will be able to receive oil sales revenue at an earlier date. This will help it maintain strong liquidity, the company said.
It also noted that deal would let it submit monthly invoices. As a result, it will not have to wait for final sales to be concluded at Bayo- var, which will only occur when sufficient vol- umes have accumulated to justify the hiring of a tanker to take the oil to its final market.
“We’re pleased that Petroperu has exhibited
such confidence in oil production from the Bretaña oil field as our good quality oil output increases,” said Manolo Zuniga, president and CEO of PetroTal. “This will ensure that Petrop- eru has the ability to manage Peru’s expanding oil production and an adequate supply of oil for the Talara refinery expansion when complete.”
The new oil sales contract has an initial term of one year. At the conclusion of this year, Petro- Tal will be able to extend it, so long as both par- ties agree.
VENEZUELA’S government has changed its formulae for calculating the royalties that energy companies pay the government, in response to the roll-out of stricter rules governing marine fuel specifications. Specifically, Caracas has removed references to heavy fuel oil and some crude grades in the royalty payments, Reuters said, citing an official document.
The new policy is being introduced as a result of the ban that the International Mari- time Organisation (IMO), the shipping agency affiliated with the United Nations, has imposed on the use of fuels with a sulphur content above 0.5%. The new emissions standard, which is known as IMO 2020, is designed to reduce pollution. But it is also causing price volatility for sour products such as high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO). As a result, it is also having an impact on prices for heavy crudes, including those produced by Venezuela and several other Latin American countries that have made a practice of linking the prices of their output to HSFO.
Venezuela’s oil ministry said in a resolu- tion published in the country’s official gazette that it had taken this step because IMO 2020 amounted to “a structural change that will affect the international trade of liquid hydrocarbons.” It added that its pricing office would have to cal- culate exporting formulae for its five most popu- lar crude grades, which are Boscan, Merey, Mesa 30, Santa Barbara and extra heavy.
Additionally, the new rule unveiled
individual formulae for the royalties that the national oil company (NOC) PdVSA and its joint ventures with foreign partners will pay to the Venezuelan government. The final amount of the payment will depend on the destination, it said.
Under the previous rules, Caracas calculated the royalty payments due according to a separate formula for each crude grade, without regard to the destination market. Now, though, the new formulae will link the price of oil delivered to Asia to Middle Eastern grades. This is the first time such a step has been taken, Reuters noted.
Caracas is making this change at a time when most of PdVSA’s oil exports are going to India and China. These countries have become increasingly important markets for Venezuelan crude, as the sanctions imposed by Washington on PdVSA last year have effectively halted ship- ments to the US.
The Trump administration imposed sweep- ing sanctions on PdVSA in January 2019. It did so in a bid to block Venezuela from using the proceeds of oil exports to stay afloat, as part of an effort to force President Nicolas Maduro to step down in response to allegations that he had secured re-election through fraud.
Mexico’s NOC Pemex also removed refer- ences to HSFO from its price formulae last year. This move helped it to simplify its price formu- lae for both export supply contracts and for oil revenue hedging.
VENEZUELA
Venezuela changes oil royalty formula
BRAZIL
Petronas wraps up deal for Brazilian fields
MALAYSIA’S state-owned Petronas completed the acquisition late last month of a 50% stake in two deepwater fields in Brazil’s Campos Basin.
The major said on December 28, 2019 that
its local subsidiary Petronas Petroleo Brasil Ltd (PPBL) had finalised the deal to acquire the Tar- taruga Verde field as well as Module III of the Espadarte field from Brazil’s state-run Petrobras.
P10 w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 01 09•January•2020
