Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 34 2019
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“We are very pleased to have spudded on Sunday [August 25] our second exploration well [at] Orinduik,” he was quoted as saying in the statement. “After the discovery made on Jethro in the Lower Tertiary, which greatly de-riskedthatagesectionthroughouttheblock, we are now moving to an Upper Tertiary target in the Joe prospect where we are targeting over 100mn barrels of oil equivalent [boe]. If a fur- ther discovery is made, it will further enhance the value of the block with this shallower play. e estimated chance of success for Joe is the same as Jethro, although it is a completely di erent play, and we are con dent in our 3D interpretation, as we were ahead of the Jethro-1
discovery.”
Kinley added: “We look forward to con-
tinued success in our exploration e orts as we move forward to de ne the plays available to us in all the various geological ages and to develop thisblock.”
Equity in the Orinduik project is divided between Tullow, the operator, with 60%; EcoAt- lantic (Canada), with 15%; Total (France), with 15%, and Qatar Petroleum, with 10%. Qatar Petroleum arranged to join the project earlier this summer through a farm-in deal with Total.
e block is located about 120km o shore, in water depths of 70 to 1,400 metres. It covers an area of 1,800 square km.
BOLIVIA
Head of IGU praises Bolivia’s gas policy
LUIS Beltran, the secretary general of the International Gas Union (IGU), said last week that Bolivia stood to bene t from the ongoing increase in demand for natural gas around the world.
In a speech delivered during an industry forum in Santa Cruz, Beltran asserted that Bolivia was in a favourable position, despite the downturn in global gas prices.
“ e gas industry will continue to grow. e price has dropped globally, but it has not fallen intheregion,andthisisgreatnewsforBolivia,” he was quoted as saying by the Prensa Latina news agency.
He also complimented Bolivia’s approach to management of its own gas reserves. By certi- fying these reserves as pure, he said, the gov- ernment gives the national oil company (NOC) YPFB room to handle gas independently of oil. “ is makes it possible to run a separate busi- ness, and it is an advantage that Bolivia o ers to its neighbours,” he commented.
Beltran also spoke positively about Bolivia’s oil and gas policy regime, saying that the gov- ernment’s choices were leading to a positive outcome. He praised President Evo Morales’ decision to nationalise YPFB in 2006, saying
that the takeover had transformed the company into the most important driver of the Bolivian economy.
“You have created one of the best policies I couldthinkofdesigning,”hesaidduringapanel discussion on the global gas market. “ e trans- formation that Bolivia has experienced is really admirable. Bolivia has grown in its gas energy matrix, has grown in industry, has managed to make fertilizers, has resumed exports and is on the path of petrochemistry.”
During the same panel discussion, Izeusse Braga, the executive secretary of the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Association of Oil and Natural Gas Companies (known as ARPEL), called on Bolivian authorities to take a new approach to attracting investment, pro- moting regional integration and facilitating economic expansion.
“Bolivia will have to look for new alternatives in the gas market, including integration with Peru and new opportunities for complementa- rity with Argentina [and] continuing with the domestic market and rede ning strategies aris- ing from the opening of the Brazilian market andtheeventualgrowthofgasdemand,”hewas quoted as saying by La Prensa.
Bolivian President Evo Morales (c) privatised YPFB in 2006 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Joel Alvarez)
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