Page 9 - AfrOil Week 03 2021

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But Ukraine’s lenders are concerned that the gov- with support from Gunvor Group, hopes that
ernment is backtracking on reform. it will win over customers more easily than its
competitors thanks to the variety of options it
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping has on offer.
the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then please
click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor. If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
the global LNG sector then please click here for
GLNG: Transit bottlenecks NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor.
Congestion delaying LNG shipments from the
US to Asia via the Panama Canal is expected to LatAmOil: Bolivian opportunities
last for the duration of the winter months, when Offshore South America, the Guyana-Suriname
demand peaks, according to traders cited by Basin continues to draw strong interest – and
Reuters. This comes despite the canal’s regulator mixed results.
saying it had made changes designed to speed up In Guyana, the US super-major ExxonMobil
transit through the waterway. has reportedly experienced a disappointment
The bottleneck is contributing to record- at the Stabroek block. A spokeswoman for the
high Asian spot prices, alongside freezing win- company’s Guyanese subsidiary told OilNOW
ter weather and some supply outages. Reuters earlier this week that the Hassa-1 well had not
reported that LNG carriers had to wait for up encountered any hydrocarbons in the primary ExxonMobil and
to two weeks to transit the canal in December. target intervals. She also stated that there had its partners
However, the canal’s regulatory authority told been hydrocarbon shows in other intervals but
the news service that the wait had now halved to did not provide further details. have already
one week. Analysts and traders expect the con- “This serves as a reminder that geologic[al]
gestion to last until March. risk is inherent to frontier oil and gas explora- discovered crude
Meanwhile, certain LNG developers are tion activities,” the spokeswoman remarked.
showing signs of confidence in longer-term “Nonetheless, ExxonMobil remains committed oil in more than
demand for the super-chilled fuel. Last week, to evaluating the potential in our offshore Guy- a dozen sections
Tellurian’s co-founder and executive chairman, ana blocks using our world-class technology and
Charif Souki, said his company was targeting technical capabilities.” of Guyana’s
this summer to begin construction of the Drift- The US giant and its partners have already
wood LNG terminal in Louisiana. “There is a discovered crude oil in more than a dozen sec- Stabroek block
strong need for additional liquefaction capacity tions of Stabroek. They have estimated the recov-
and we’re probably the project that is the closest erable reserves of the block at around 9bn boe.
to starting construction,” he said. A final invest- Meanwhile, France’s Total has had better luck
ment decision (FID) has not yet been reached on in Suriname’s offshore zone. The French com-
Driftwood, but Souki said the level of customer pany and its US-based partner Apache revealed
interest in offtake from the project had risen last week that they had struck oil at Block 58. In a
“pretty dramatically” over the past month. statement, Total reported that the Keskesi-1 well
Separately, a tender was launched this week had encountered “63 metres net pay of hydro-
for offtake from the planned 8.4mn tonne per carbons, comprised of 58 metres net black oil,
year (tpy) Commonwealth LNG project, also in volatile oil and gas pay in good quality Campa-
Louisiana. The company noted that this was “the no-Maastrichtian reservoirs, along with 5 metres
first ever tender process in which prospective of net volatile oil pay in Santonian reservoirs.”
LNG customers can secure future term supply at Keskesi-1 is the fourth discovery made at
volumes, pricing and durations of their choosing Block 58. Total and Apache also found oil in
through competitive bidding”. the first three wells drilled within their licence
This approach illustrates the growing flexi- area: Maka Central-1, Sapakara West-1 and
bility in the LNG market, and Commonwealth, Kwaskwasi-1.

Week 03 20•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9