Page 12 - LatAmOil Week 04 2022

LatAmOil ARGENTINA LatAmOil

According to Neuquén’s Undersecretariat of returned to previous levels. Oil yields in Decem-
Energy, Mining and Hydrocarbons, 17 of the ber 2021 exceeded the figure posted in February
newly drilled wells were conventional wells, 2020 by 6%, he explained, while unconventional
while another 27 targeted tight sand formations. oil production surged by 69% y/y.
As such, the other 259 wells targeted other types Martinez also made the following comment
of unconventional reserves. on the increase in oil output: “When a country
Energy Secretary Darío Martínez attributed produces more, it generates more jobs, more
the rise of production in December to the “clear SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises]
rules” laid out by the Argentinian government. open their doors and join the sector [and] we
He also noted that this was the first time since develop more added value and more national
the advent of the coronavirus (COVID-19) technology – all key aspects for the economic
pandemic outbreak that oil production had reactivation that we are going through.” ™

PERU
Perupetro to offer up to seven mature

Talara basin oil blocks to investors

NEW Stratus Energy (Canada) has completed of 2022.
its acquisition of minority stakes in two heavy If a PSC can be signed and the term of the
crude oil blocks in Ecuador’s eastern Orellana project extended, it commented, the company
province from Repsol (Spain). will commission a new reserve report that
The Canadian independent announced in a reflects reserves up until the endpoint of the
statement dated January 14 that it had wrapped renegotiated deal. ™
up the transaction on terms “equivalent to
those previously disclosed.” It explained that it
had acquired 100% of Repsol Ecuador, a local
subsidiary of Repsol, and had thereby gained
indirect 35% working interests in the service
contracts issued for Blocks 16 and 67. Repsol
Ecuador, now a fully-owned subsidiary of New
Stratus, will continue to serve as operator of the
blocks, it added.
Equity in Blocks 16 and 67 is now split 35%
to operator Repsol Ecuador, owned by New
Stratus; 34% to an alliance formed by two state-
owned Chinese companies, Sinopec and Sino-
chem; and 31% to Taiwan’s national oil company
(NOC), China Petroleum Corp. (CPC).
As of January 5, the two licence areas were
yielding a total of 14,306 barrels per day of oil,
with New Stratus’ net share of the total amount-
ing to 5,007 bpd. Their gross proven and prob-
able crude reserves amount to 4.506mn barrels,
1.577mn barrels net to New Stratus.
However, the Canadian company has said it
is ready to invest $200mn in Blocks 16 and 67 in
2022-2023 in order to drill 30 new development
wells, provided that Ecuadorean authorities
approve its request to switch its service con-
tract to a production-sharing contract (PSC). It
has claimed that the drilling of these new wells
might push output rates up to 25,000 bpd.
New Stratus did not say in its statement
whether its ongoing talks with officials in Quito
on the PSC issue had made any progress. It
noted that it would continue to work under ser-
vice contracts that are due to expire at the end Map of Peru’s north-west coastal sedimentary basins (Image: Perupetro)

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