Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 36 2022

LatAmOil ARGENTINA LatAmOil

Meanwhile, Bulgheroni said, Argentina is set to now on track to produce 140 mcm per day on
see gas output climb, so it has a prime opportu- their own by 2030.
nity to fill the gap in the Brazilian market. Currently, Argentina’s gas pipeline network
This projected increase is largely a conse- is capable of exporting 20 mcm per day of gas to
quence of new development in the Vaca Muerta Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. During the first seven
shale formation. months of 2022, Argentina exported 5.4 mcm
Total domestic gas output surged from 114 per day of gas to these three countries, up from
mcm per day in mid-2021 to 140 mcm per day 973,000 cubic metres per day during the same
in July of this year, and Vaca Muerta fields are period of last year. ™

PERU
Peru LNG sends 3 cargoes to UK in August

PERU LNG, the operator of a natural gas liq- already delivered its load to the Dragon LNG
uefaction plant and export terminal in Pampa terminal. A second vessel – the Barcelona Knut-
Melchorita, resumed exports in August follow- sen, a 173,400-cubic metre tanker that left port
ing a planned shutdown for maintenance in July. on August 2 – was expected to arrive at Dragon
According to Peru’s national oil company LNG on September 11. The third vessel – the
(NOC) Perupetro, the Peru LNG consortium Methane Mickie Harper, a 173,000-cubic metre
loaded a total of 174,497 tonnes of LNG in the tanker that left port on August 13 – was report-
month of August. This represented a fall of edly still at sea as of press time.
around 47.9% on the figure noted for June, the The Peru LNG consortium has loaded and
last month before the shutdown, when the group delivered a total of 681 cargoes of LNG since its
loaded five vessels with 335,203 tonnes of LNG. launch in June 2010.
It is, however, higher than the August 2021 The group operates a complex that includes
figure of zero. Peru LNG did not process any gas a 4.45mn tonne per year (tpy) gas liquefaction
in that month, as it spent much of the interval plant built by Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. (CBI)
between May and September last year offline and a marine terminal constructed by a consor-
due to technical problems. tium known as CDB. (This group includes Ita-
In any event, the Peru LNG plant appears ly’s Saipem, Luxemburg’s Jan de Nul and Brazil’s
to have received less gas than expected last Odebrecht.)
month because Peru’s Energy and Mines Min- The complex also incorporates a storage
istry issued an emergency order on August 11 depot with two 130,000-cubic metre tanks and
that called for making domestic gas supplies a a 34-inch (860-mm) natural gas pipeline. This
higher priority than LNG exports, LNG Prime pipe handles gas from fields in the Cusco region
reported. The ministry took this step after Plus- that are being developed by YPF, the NOC of
petrol (Argentina) took its gas-processing facil- Argentina, and Repsol of Spain. The link runs
ity in Las Malvinas offline for repairs, it said. for 408 km from Chiquintirca, a town in the
This shutdown, which lasted from August 11 Ayacucho region, to the LNG plant.
to August 24, reduced the volume of feedstock Peru LNG was established by US-based
flowing to Peru LNG, it explained. Hunt Oil along with three other international oil
Meanwhile, shipping data show that all three companies (IOCs). Equity in the project is split
cargoes dispatched in August 2022 were des- between Hunt Oil, with 50%; SK Energy (South
tined for the UK. One of the vessels – the LNG- Korea), 20%; Shell (UK), 20%, and Marubeni
Ships Athena, a 174,000-cubic metre tanker (Japan), 10%. The partners spent $3.8bn to build
that left Pampa Melchorita on August 9 – has the Pampa Melchorita complex. ™

All three of the tankers that left Pampa Melchorita in August were bound for the UK (Photo: Peru LNG)

Week 36 08•September•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11