Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 35 2019

LatAmOil VENEZUELA LatAmOil
Chevron seeks more favourable terms for possible exit from Venezuela
CHEVRON is reportedly taking steps to ensure a softer landing in the event that it cannot secure a further extension of the waiver that allows it to do business in Venezuela without incur- ring penalties under the current US sanctions regime.
The US-based major began working in Ven- ezuela nearly 100 years ago, and it has contin- ued to operate there up until the present day, even now that Washington has imposed tighter restrictions on firms that do business with Caracas. It secured a six-month exemption from sanctions in January of this year, and the US Treasury Department extended its waiver for another three months in July. This waiver is due to expire on October 25, and Chevron has expressed optimism about its prospects for securing another extension.
In any event, though, it does appear to be preparing for the possibility of departure. Sources with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg this week that Chevron had revised its agreements with Venezuelan partners in order to avoid paying contractual penalties for premature termination. The company updated some of its Venezuelan contracts in late 2018 and did the same for another set of agreements after obtaining an extension of its waiver in July 2019, the sources said.
As of press time, Chevron had not com- mented on Bloomberg’s report. Ray Fohr, a spokesman for the company, told the agency
that he hoped Washington would grant the request for an extension of the exemption from sanctions.
“We are a positive presence in the country,” he added. “Our focus is maintaining the safety of the operations and supporting the more than 8,000 people who work with us, as well as their families.”
Chevron has already scaled back its presence in Venezuela. It has suspended activities related to the Petroindependencia and Petroindepen- diente schemes and is only working actively on the Petropiar and Petroboscan projects. Its share of output from the latter two amounted to just 42,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2018.
Earlier this year, Chevron informed inves- tors that problems in Venezuela might have a negative effect on its bottom line. ™
BPC Plc
BRAZIL
Repsol Sinopec Brazil and partners to develop robotic well profiling tool
REPSOL Sinopec Brazil, a subsidiary of the joint venture formed by Repsol of Spain and Sinopec of China, said last week that it was working to develop a robotic tool that would facilitate the task of assessing cement quality in lined wellshafts.
According to Tamara Garcia, Repsol Sinopec Brazil’s research and innovation manager, the company hopes to achieve this goal by expand- ing the partnership it has established with Ouro Negro, a Brazilian technology firm that devel- ops solutions for the oil and gas industry, and the Mechanical Engineering Department of PUC- Rio’s Technical and Scientific Centre (CTC/ PUC-Rio).
Together, she said, the partners will work to develop a profiling tool that can provide a more thorough assessment of the reliability of cement well liners.
“The proposal is to have a tool that enables the detection of cement anomalies in the adja- cent [layers of the liner] and not only in the layer closest to the tool, as occurs in the case of solutions that are currently available in the marketplace, thus avoiding the removal of the production tubing to perform this operation,” Garcia said.
A tool of this type could help operators avoid expensive well abandonment and intervention programmes, she explained.

Week 35 04•September•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
P7