Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 42 2021

LatAmOil BRAZIL LatAmOil

They are rooted in the Brazilian government’s debt and recover from an ongoing corruption
announcement in 2019 of sweeping plans to scandal, through a strategy based on divesting
loosen Petrobras’ monopoly grip over the gas non-core assets in favour of focusing on Brazil’s
market and to promote competition in the deepwater pre-salt zone. However, last year’s
domestic energy sector. coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and crude
The right-wing government of President Jair oil price crash, alongside a general slowdown in
Bolsonaro, who took office in January 2019, gen- the global economy, have caused some delays for
erally favours the introduction of free market the divestment programme. ™
policies across the economy. The president’s lib-
eralisation plan, which will take years to imple-
ment, is supposed to include the unbundling
of gas production operations from transport
and distribution, in the hope that this will allow
Petrobras to focus on its upstream portfolio and
attract more investment.
The liberalisation guidelines gained the
approval of the National Council for Energy Pol-
icy (CNPE) in 2019, after the Brazilian Congress
failed to pass a new gas law.
Petrobras currently accounts for around 80%
of Brazilian oil and gas production. It operates
almost all of the country’s offshore pipelines and
owns a total of 11 refineries. But iIt has struck
agreements with investors for the sale of two
oil-processing plants within the framework of a
campaign to unload eight of its refineries. These
sales are part of a wider initiative announced in
December 2019 to sell $20-30bn worth of assets
in the 2020-2024 period.
The state-owned firm is trying to pay down Petrobras has had a monopoly on gas transport in Brazil (Image: EPE)

ARGENTINA
Argentinian gas producers file four

export requests in first half of October

ENERGY companies operating in Argen- firm Colbun between the date of authorisation
tina have filed several more natural gas export to December 31, 2024. These shipments will also
requests, mostly of them concerning planned consist of gas from Rio Neuquen, Sierre Chata
deliveries to Chile. The uptick has occurred and El Mangrullo, the company said.
against a backdrop of rising gas output in the The other two requests were filed by Winter-
Latin American state. shall Dea Argentina and Enel Generacion Chile.
So far this month, a total of four gas export They hope to cover the planned shipments with
authorisation requests have been submitted, gas from multiple blocks, including San Roque
according to the records of the federal Energy and Aguada Pichana Este.
Secretariat. Two of these were submitted by a Six export requests were filed in Argentina
local company, Pampa Energia. last month. All of them targeting customers in
In the documents, Pampa Energia said it Chile, including one request from Pampa Ener-
wanted to send 1.3mn cubic metres per day of gia. So far this year, more than 30 requests have
gas to the Brazilian power generator Ambar been submitted.
Uruguaiana Energia between the date of author- Argentina typically produces surplus vol-
isation and December 31, 2024. The gas will be umes of gas in the warmer months. Since 2018,
sourced from three blocks: Rio Neuquen, where it has been shipping that gas abroad, mainly to
the firm has a 33.07% stake; Sierre Chata, oper- Chile and Brazil. The South American country
ated by Pampa with a 45.55% stake; and El Man- is already producing conventional natural gas
grullo, operated by Pampa with a 100% stake. and also hopes to increase output through the
Pampa Energia also wants to export up to development of unconventional reserves in the
2.6 mcm per day of gas to the Chilean energy Vaca Muerta shale formation. ™

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