Page 14 - LatAmOil Week 49

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They will also allow the facility to be “part of a because infill drilling operations have been less
wider negotiation among Atlantic’s shareholders productive than anticipated. Khan stressed last
to form one unitised facility encompassing all week, though, that there were other options for
four trains,” he said. Train 1.
The energy minister was referring to state- “BP is saying they have a shortage and they
ments made earlier this year about Atlantic cannot supply,” he remarked. “But BP is not the
LNG’s plans to restructure itself so that it could
operate not as a collection of four produc-
tion trains, each owned by a separate group of
shareholders, but as a single unit. The current
arrangement has complicated efforts to ensure
adequate deliveries of gas to all four trains, and
Train 1 has not been able to obtain 250mn cubic
feet (7.08mn cubic metres) per day of gas, the
minimum volume needed to operate efficiently.
Currently, BP is the unit’s only supplier of
gas. The UK-based super-major has not been
able to meet its supply obligations this year Atlantic LNG shareholders are discussing unitisation (Photo: File)

VENEZUEL A
Iran sending yet another flotilla

of fuel tankers to Venezuela

IRAN is reportedly sending its biggest fleet yet programmes. Additionally, analysts say, decades
of fuel tankers to Venezuela to help the isolated of mismanagement, corruption and under-in-
South American state weather a crippling gas- vestment at the national oil company (NOC)
oline shortage. It is doing so in defiance of US PdVSA since the time of Maduro’s late mentor
sanctions, which aim to restrict trade with both and predecessor, Hugo Chavez, have exacer-
Iran and Venezuela bated the problem.
Some vessels among the flotilla, which The last round of Iranian fuel shipments,
consists of around 10 tankers, would also help which arrived in Venezuela in October on
export Venezuelan crude after discharging fuel, three vessels, are thought to be running out. As
according to sources quoted by Bloomberg. a result, the country is facing steeper nation-
The Wall Street Journal recently quoted US wide shortages, with hours-long queues at gas
officials as claiming that Iran was also send- stations. Several of the tankers that transported
ing troops and weapons to help the regime of fuel to Venezuela earlier this year, including the
socialist President Nicolas Maduro. (Caracas, Fortune and the Horse, turned off their satellite
like Tehran, is attempting to survive crushing signal at least 10 days ago, according to Bloomb-
sanctions imposed by the administration of US erg tanker tracking data.
President Donald Trump.) In addition to importing fuel, Venezuela also
Venezuela’s fuel crunch stems partly from needs to export enough oil to free up storage
the sanctions, which have disrupted supplies space and prevent field stoppages. These tasks
of equipment and parts, as well as maintenance have been made harder by US sanctions. ™

The Fortune may be bringing Iranian fuel to Venezuela again (Photo: Twitter/@NicolasMaduro)

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 49 10•December•2020