Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 27 2022

LatAmOil ARGENTINA LatAmOil

TGN confirms reports of methane

venting from pipelines in May, June

TRANSPORTADORA de Gas del Norte not know why the company had decided against
(TGN), a natural gas transportation and dis- flaring the gas and asserted that bringing pres-
tribution company active in northern Argen- sure levels down would have posed too many
tina, has confirmed that it deliberately released safety risks to maintenance and repair crews.
about 1mn cubic metres of methane gas into the These were not the first methane plumes
atmosphere during recent pipeline maintenance observed in Argentina by the ESA. The agency’s
operations. Sentinel-5P satellite has also observed dozens
TGN made the acknowledgment last of clouds of methane in past years, but most of
week, after the European Space Agency (ESA) them have been over and in the vicinity of Bue-
revealed that its Sentinel-5P satellite had col- nos Aires, the country’s capital and largest city,
lected evidence of the methane release on two and not in gas-producing areas such as those
separate dates. It said that it had vented about used to fill TGN’s pipelines. Buenos Aires is
600,000 cubic metres of the gas on May 30 and home to a number of large landfills that emit
nearly 400,000 cubic metres on June 6. large amounts of methane. ™
These figures are in line with the conclu-
sions reached by Kayrros, a French energy and
environmental geo-analytics company that has
reviewed satellite images of the methane plumes.
Kayrros has estimated that TGN released meth-
ane at the rate of approximately 120 tonnes per
hour on May 30, as the company was engaged in
venting over a period of less than two hours. It
has also estimated the rate of release at about 57
tonnes per hour on June 6.
TGN has not confirmed Kayrros’ figures. It
did say last week, though, that it had vented the
methane from 30-km sections of two different
pipelines so that workers could carry out inspec-
tions and repair work safely.
A spokesperson for the company defended
the decision to vent methane from the pipelines
rather than opting for another solution, such as
flaring the gas or lowering pressure levels in the
system, Bloomberg reported. She said she did Two methane plumes were noted on May 30 and June 6 (Image: Kayrros)

PERU
Peru LNG’s export volumes decline in June

PERU LNG, the operator of a natural gas liq- Perupetro did not provide a comparative
uefaction plant and export terminal in Pampa figure from June 2021. It is likely that the June
Melchorita, saw export volumes decline month 2022 figure is higher, as Peru LNG spent part of
on month in June. the period between May and September last year
According to Peru’s national oil company offline owing to technical problems.
(NOC) Perupetro, the Peru LNG consortium Of the five cargoes dispatched in June 2022,
loaded five vessels with 335,203 tonnes of LNG all were originally destined for the UK, but at
in the month of June. least two changed course after leaving port. One
This represented a fall of around 7.9% on of these two vessels – the Maran Gas Roxana, a
the figure reported for the previous month, tanker with a capacity of 173,400 cubic metres –
when the group loaded five vessels with 363,836 was reported to be sailing in the Indian Ocean
tonnes of LNG. off the coast of Madagascar as of July 5.

Week 26 30•June•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11