Page 17 - LatAmOil Week 50 2020

LatAmOil ARGENTINA LatAmOil

Argentina has seen gas production drop sig- The government is concerned about the
nificantly this year, largely because the public medium-term impact of this slowdown in pro-
health measures its government took to combat duction. Officials in Buenos Aires have warned
the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the that the country’s supplies could fall short of
spring led to a slowdown in upstream develop- demand by up to 30 mcm per day during the
ment operations. In June, though, the govern- winter of 2021 unless upstream operations
ment of President Alberto Fernández took steps pick up again. In turn, tight supplies could lead
to restore output, saying it had agreed to resume Argentina to import greater volumes of LNG,
payments on a $250mn subsidy programme in thereby putting further pressure on its trade
a bid to support Vaca Muerta projects. balance. ™

PERU
Peruvian natural gas output hits year-to-

date high in November

PERU’S natural gas production hit its highest
monthly level since the beginning of 2020 in
November, after plummeting to historic lows
earlier in the year as a result of the coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic.
Output averaged 42.2mn cubic metres per
day last month, up by nearly 19% from the
previous month and up by 5% year on year,
according to Perupetro, the country’s hydrocar-
bons licensing authority. Blocks 88, 56 and 57
accounted for 57.3%, 25.5% and 13% of gas pro-
duction respectively in November, according to
Perupetro’s data.
By contrast, crude oil production dropped to
33,484 barrels per day (bpd) in November. This Peruvian gas output was up 19% month on month in November (Photo: Andina)
was down by 11.5% on the October figure and
marked a fall of nearly 50% y/y. historic highs – including the five-year record
The most important driver of the decline was recorded in November 2019, according to statis-
a 44% cut in production at Block 95 in response tics from the Peruvian Oil and Gas Association
to social unrest in the area. Additionally, several (SPH).
other licence areas remained offline because of In the same month, the country saw oil out-
the pandemic, including Blocks 67, 8, 192 and put climb to 63,738 bpd, 31% up on the figure
Z-1. recorded in the same month of 2018. This was a
Peruvian oil production fell for four con- consequence of rising production at the Loreto
secutive months between March and June of block and in the Tumbes basin offshore Peru, the
this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic wrought SPH said.
havoc on production in the country. In June, Peru’s crude oil production has been declin-
yields dipped to a historic low of 29,940 bpd. ing since the 1990s, and output is currently only
The impact of the pandemic on domestic oil around one quarter of what it was in the 1980s.
and gas production represented a major blow for Nevertheless, the country’s government hopes
the South American state. Several months prior to push output up to 100,000 bpd so that it can
to the outbreak, Peru had seen production reach reduce the dependence on imported fuels. ™

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