Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 02 2020

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YPFB gets permission to pump gas to other customers in Brazil
BRAZIL’S government revealed last week that it had authorised Bolivia’s national oil com- pany (NOC) YPFB to target a wider range of customers.
YPFB has been using the Gasbol pipeline to deliver gas to just one customer in Brazil – Petro- bras, its Brazilian counterpart. But on January 10, the official gazette published a statement say- ing that Brazilian authorities had given a local subsidiary of the Bolivian company permission to deliver gas to other customers in Brazil via the same route.
Brasilia took this step partly because it does not want the 3,150-km pipeline to remain idle following the expiration of the supply contract between YPFB and Petrobras on December 31. It is also doing this in a bid to encourage compe- tition among suppliers serving Brazil’s domestic market and thereby keep prices down.
According to the statement, YPFB has already struck a deal with at least one customer – namely, the state government of Mato Grosso do Sul. The multi-year contract between the parties provides for the Bolivian side to pump 1.2mn cubic metres per day of gas to Brazil in 2020, with shipments rising to 2.6 mcm per day in 2021. Delivery volumes will then move up to 3.6 mcm per day in 2022 and remain at that level until the contract ends.
The official gazette did not divulge all details of YPFB’s gas deal with Mato Grosso do Sul. Indeed, it noted that the Bolivian NOC had not yet revealed the terms of the deal in full to Bra- zil’s National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas
and Biofuels, known as ANP.
YPFB began delivering gas to Petrobras
under a 20-year contract signed in 1999. Bolivia indicated last year that it wanted to renew the deal, which had helped establish the country as an exporter of gas. It also complained that the Brazilian side was liable to penalties, as it had failed to take delivery of the minimum volumes of gas specified in the take-or-pay provisions of the contract.
For its part, Petrobras was much less eager to conclude another deal with the Bolivian NOC. Brazilian gas production has risen significantly since the signing of the original contract, and Petrobras has less need of Bolivian supplies to meet domestic demand.™
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YPFB uses the Gasbol pipeline to export gas to Brazil (Image: EcEn.com)
Petrobras unloads its last Nigerian assets
BRAZIL
PETROBRAS, the state-owned oil company of Brazil, has wrapped up its operations in Africa by finalising the sale of its remaining Nigerian assets.
The company said in a statement dated Jan- uary 14 that one of its subsidiaries – Petrobras International Braspetro BV (PIBBV), based in the Netherlands – had sold its 50% stake in Petrobras Oil & Gas BV (PO&GBV) to a Cana- dian buyer. It identified the buyer as Petrovida, an entity set up by Vancouver-based Africa Oil for the purpose of acquiring PIBBV’s holdings in PO&GBV.
The latter company is a minority shareholder in two blocks located offshore Nigeria. It has an 8% stake in OML 127, which includes the Agbami oilfield. Additionally, it owns 16% of OML 130, which includes the Egina and Akpo oilfields. It is not an operator of either block, but it is entitled to a share of production. In 2019, its portion amounted to 34,000 barrels per day (bpd) on average.
Petrovida had agreed to pay $1.53bn for the 50% stake in PO&GBV. But Petrobras noted on January 14 that the final price had been adjusted downward to $1.454bn.
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