Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 04 2022

LatAmOil MEXICO LatAmOil

The company put the value of the deal at $596mn the impact of reforms enacted in 2013-2014 to
and said that PMI Norteamerica had paid for encourage competition in the oil and gas sector.
its stake with a combination of cash and debt. However, Mexican President Andres Manuel
It also explained that the transaction would not Lopez Obrador is convinced that championing
give the Pemex affiliate any control over Deer Pemex’s interests and making certain that state-
Park Chemicals, a facility located adjacent to the run companies dominate the energy industry is
refinery. Deer Park Chemicals will continue to the best option.
be fully owned and operated by Shell Chemical, Meanwhile, Pemex, which is carrying a debt
another subsidiary of Shell. portfolio of more than $100bn, is under no
“The completion of this sale marks the start small amount of financial pressure as it assumes
of a new chapter of our history in Deer Park, as control of the Deer Park plant. The value of the
we’ve worked closely with Pemex over the past acquisition has been reported at $596mn, but
few months to ensure a safe and responsible Bloomberg said last year that it had seen doc-
handover of operations for the refinery,” com- uments showing that the total cost might reach
mented Huibert Vigeveno, downstream direc- $1.6bn.
tor at Shell. “The team at Deer Park has been The documents indicated that the NOC
instrumental not only in preparing the asset for might use around $1.6bn, including capitali-
Pemex operations, but also in continuing a leg- sation from Mexico’s National Infrastructure
acy of safety and performance that dates back Fund and a bridge loan from commercial bank-
92 years. We look forward to remaining a neigh- ing institutions, to buy the stake and settle more
bour in the Deer Park community and growing than $1bn of the Deer Park plant’s debts, the
our chemicals business to best meet the needs news agency reported. ™
of our customers, while advancing our global
energy and chemicals park strategy.”
Pemex intends to use the Deer Park refinery
as a source of petroleum product supplies for
Mexico’s domestic market. The country is cur-
rently dependent on imported fuels, despite its
status as an oil producer. This is partly because
the NOC’s own refineries are operating signifi-
cantly below capacity, and Mexico’s government
has indicated that it hopes to address this prob-
lem by halting crude exports by the end of next
year.
This state-driven, protectionist approach
has raised eyebrows among many industry
observers, especially since it has been accom-
panied by policy initiatives designed to blunt Pemex now has 100% of the Deer Park refinery’s equity (Photo: Shell)

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Port of Spain reports progress in

talks on Atlantic LNG restructuring

TRINIDAD and Tobago’s Ministry of Energy negotiations.”
and Energy Industries revealed earlier this week With respect to the details of the HoA, the
that it was moving closer to a deal on the restruc- statement noted that Shell, BP and NGC had
turing of Atlantic LNG, a four-train gas liquefac- pledged to continue discussions on restructur-
tion plant and export terminal in Point Fortin. ing, with the intent of completing and executing
In a statement dated January 24, the minis- an agreement by June 30, 2022. (It did not say
try said it had joined with National Gas Co. of whether BP and Shell had resolved earlier dis-
Trinidad and Tobago Ltd (NGC) in signing a putes over whether the final agreement would
heads of agreement (HoA) with the two largest involve a reorganisation of the shareholder
shareholders in Atlantic LNG – namely, affil- structure.)
iates of BP (UK) and Royal Dutch Shell (UK/ Additionally, it reported that the BP and Shell
Netherlands). affiliates had signed a separate HoA outlining
It noted that the parties had signed the docu- their good-faith commitment to pursue discus-
ment “after months of discussions and complex sions on the restructuring of Atlantic LNG.

Week 04 27•January•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7