Page 15 - LatAmOil Week 50 2020

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It would make room for private investment, he expected the bill to help bring domestic gas
partly by limiting vertical integration – that is, prices down. “We have the most expensive gas in
by barring gas producers from acting as dis- the world, which forced hundreds of industries
tributors and vice versa – in a bid to encourage to shut down in Brazil or change their source of
upstream investment. energy,” he said.
Additionally, it would overhaul the existing Oliveira, who represents the state of Sergipe,
concession regime for gas distribution by replac- also noted that the cost of gas in Brazil was cur-
ing it with a system of authorisations that will be rently more than double international prices.
overseen by the National Agency of Petroleum, Brazil’s government announced sweep-
Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP). Government ing plans to loosen Petrobras’ monopoly grip
officials hope this measure will help eliminate over the gas market last year. It did so in line
some bureaucratic hurdles to the construction with the policies of Jair Bolsonaro, the coun-
of new gas pipelines. try’s right-leaning president, who has sought
Brazilian Mining and Energy Minister Bento to introduce free market policies since taking
Albuquerque has said the law could help the gas office in January 2019.
sector attract BRL40bn ($7.87bn) worth of pri- The liberalisation guidelines gained the
vate investment. Meanwhile, Economy Minister approval of the national energy policy council,
Paulo Guedes has asserted that reform will help known as CNPE, last year after the Brazilian
Brazilian industries by unleashing a “shock of National Assembly failed to pass a new gas law.
cheap energy.” State-controlled Petrobras currently
Laercio Oliveira, the legislator who pre- accounts for around 80% of Brazil’s total gas
sented the measure in the Chamber of Deputies production. It controls and operates almost all
earlier this year, told Reuters in late August that offshore pipeline and all processing plants. ™

Karoon ships first cargo of

crude oil from Baúna field

AUSTRALIA’S Karoon Energy has shipped The company went on to say that all of the oil
its first cargo of crude oil from the Baúna field, in the shipment had been extracted from Baúna
located offshore Brazil in the Santos Basin. by the floating production, storage and off-load-
In a statement dated December 10, Karoon ing (FPSO) vessel known as the Cidade de Itajaí
reported that the cargo was its first shipment that is operated by the Norwegian-Brazilian
from Baúna since finalising its acquisition of a joint venture TeekayOcyan.
100% stake in the site last month. It also said that The barrels were transferred from the FPSO
the cargo consisted of more than 500,000 barrels to a shuttle tanker, the Lambada Spirit, and
of oil and said that these volumes had been off- slated for transfer to a very large crude carrier
loaded “safely and on time. (VLCC), it noted.

Baúna lies in the Santos basin (Image: Karoon Energy)

Week 50 17•December•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15