Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 43 2021

LatAmOil VENEZUEL A LatAmOil

Argentina’s Escobar LNG terminal (Image: Excelerate Energy)

This programme calls for the national oil com- per day of gas to Cammesa, the heavily regulated
pany (NOC) YPF to invest $1.8bn in production private company that manages the wholesale
over a period of three years. power market, and distributors during the win-
It also involves a four-year tender scheme ter months between 2021 and 2024. That was
under which producers will be able to offer below the 70 mcm per day that the government
gas to the market at a price of up to $3.70 per had hoped to secure, so Buenos Aires subse-
mmBtu. The tenders will allow for the purchase quently conducted a smaller-scale follow-up
of up to 70 mcm per day of gas, equivalent to round.
just over half of Argentina’s current production. The Gas Plan is anticipated to save Argen-
In the first round of the Gas Plan, which was tina around $5bn in imports to cover seasonal
held last year, sellers offered to deliver 63.6 mcm demand, officials have said. ™

ECUADOR
Sinopec to launch new drilling

campaign at Sacha oilfield soon

ECUADOR’S Minister of Energy and Non-Re-
newable Resources Juan Carlos Bermeo has
reported that Sinopec, the state-owned Chinese
major, is gearing up to launch a new drilling pro-
gramme at Sacha, a section of Block 60 in the
north-eastern part of the country.
Speaking to reporters last week, Bermeo said
that Sinopec intended to drill 25 new wells at the
field within the next 15 months. The company
will sink four new wells before the end of 2021
and then drill another 21 wells in 2022, he said.
This drilling campaign is expected to push
Sacha’s oil production levels up by 20,000 barrels Sinopec drilling rig in Ecuador (Image: Sinopec)
per day (bpd), he added. The field is currently
yielding about 65,000 bpd, he said. might be worth as much as $1bn.
Sinopec won the right to negotiate a contract The Sacha field lies within Block 60, located
for development of Sacha in August of this year in the Orellana province. It is believed to hold
and then finalised an agreement with PetroE- around 350mn barrels of crude and has been in
cuador, the national oil company (NOC), the production for more than 45 years. Ecuadorean
following month. The terms of the deal have not officials said last year that efforts to raise output
been disclosed, but representatives of Ecuador’s levels there might require investments of around
Finance Ministry said earlier this year that it $900mn.

Week 43 28•October•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11