Page 10 - LatAmOil Week 50 2020

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The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC)
voted 4-0 to uphold a decision approving a key
part of the project, which would involve building
a second dock to load LNG tankers at the pro-
posed Gibbstown Logistics Centre. The second
dock had been contested by local environmen-
tal groups, and the DBRC had agreed last year Aramco’s oil infrastructure and follows hits on
to reconsider its initial approval of this step, but tankers, a distribution centre and other infra-
subsequently decided that there was no basis for structure in recent months.
rescinding the approval. Meanwhile, a pipeline carrying crude from
The plan for the export terminal has also been the supergiant Marun oilfield to the city of Isfa-
in the spotlight because it involves transporting han caught fire this week following a landslide.
LNG by truck or rail from shale plays in the The incident appears to have been caused by the
US Northeast – with the administration of US integrity of the conduit rather than an attack,
President Donald Trump only recently allowing though this will come as little consolation to
LNG-by-rail shipments. NIOC, whose vast and ageing oil and gas infra-
Elsewhere in the world, there have been dis- structure is becoming increasingly problematic.
ruptions to LNG supply. In Algeria, the port
of Arzew, which is home to an LNG complex, If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
had been at a standstill for about 10 days as of the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then please click
December 11 owing to bad weather, according here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor .
to a source cited by Bloomberg. This comes as
unplanned maintenance at other liquefaction NorthAmOil: Canadian decarbonisation
plants around the world has helped eat into The end of the year has seen a significant policy
the global oversupply of LNG, pushing up spot development emerge in Canada, while news of
prices to their highest level in around two years. layoffs continued to emanate from the US’ oil
And in longer-term challenges for the indus- and gas industry.
try, consultancy Wood Mackenzie published a In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
new report last week, showing that a “2-degree has stepped up his decarbonisation push, unveil-
scenario” – involving global warming being lim- ing a strategy that includes a gradual increase in
ited to 2 degrees Celsius – would put around 77% the country’s carbon tax over the coming decade.
of new LNG supply at risk. His plan, which is aimed at Canada meeting its
The consultancy said low-cost supplies from 2030 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions target
Russia and Qatar would be best positioned to after missing previous ones, centres on the coun-
fill the supply gap under this scenario, while low try’s carbon tax increasing by CAD15 ($12) per
Henry Hub prices would also mean competitive tonne per year between 2023 and 2030.
US LNG projects. However, it added that this The current price is CAD30 ($24) per tonne
scenario would raise questions over the need for and under the plan the price hikes would con-
other new liquefaction projects elsewhere. tinue until it hits CAD170 ($133) per tonne.
The plan seeks to put Canada on track to cut
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping GHG emissions by around 40% below 2005 lev-
the global LNG sector then please click here for els by 2030, compared with the previous goal of Canada’s Prime
NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor. 30%. But there is opposition to the plan, with oil Minister has
production leader Alberta saying it would chal-
MEOG: Attacks and unrest lenge the tax hikes in court. stepped up his
Oil prices have rebounded in recent weeks as a Regardless of how successful the challenge
string of attacks on oil infrastructure and politi- is, the new target is likely to complicate the path decarbonisation
cal unrest have reintroduced an element of geo- forward for the province, which was hit hard by
political risk into pricing. lower oil prices this year. push, unveiling
In Kurdistan, usually the least restive part of In the US, meanwhile, it emerged last week a strategy that
Iraq, protests about unpaid public sector salaries that Parsley Energy would lay off most of its
have boiled over and threatened Erbil’s vital oil workers in Austin, Texas as part of its upcoming includes gradual
revenues. With public servants in the region not sale to Pioneer Natural Resources. The $4.5bn
having received their salaries in full since April, transaction comes as consolidation picks up increases in the
the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has pace in the US oil and gas industry. A number of
resorted to banning protests and travel between mergers are currently underway, but while these carbon tax
cities, as well as restricting internet access in an may help companies to survive, the same cannot
attempt to slow the spread of unrest. So desperate necessarily be said for their workforces.
is the KRG’s plight that it has agreed to provide The Parsley layoffs include 234 workers, Reu-
the federal oil marketing firm with ‘unspecified ters reported, citing a notice to the Texas Work-
quantities’ of oil in exchange for its 12.67% share force Commission, though it added that some
of the Iraqi budget. of those employees would be offered jobs with
Attacks have continued to plague Saudi Ara- Pioneer in Las Colinas or Midland, Texas.
bia’s Red Sea coast, with Jeddah the site of an oil
tanker explosion this week. While there were If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
no casualties, the attack is the latest in a string the North American oil and gas sector then please click
of small but threatening moves against Saudi here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 50 17•December•2020