Page 12 - LatAmOil Week 24 2021

LatAmOil BRAZIL LatAmOil

Saipem and DSME are due to be complete and FPSO at the field, and Petrobras is negotiating
deliver the FPSO in 2025. When finished, the a contract for the ninth, which will be known
unit will be able to handle 180,000 barrels per as the P-80.
day (bpd) of crude oil and 7.2mn cubic metres The Búzios field was discovered in 2010 and
per day of associated and natural gas. It will sup- came on stream in 2018. It contains more than
port the operations of 14 wells, including eight 3bn barrels of oil equivalent and may see out-
development wells and six injection wells, and put rise to 2mn boe per day (boepd) by the end
will be connected to them via “a subsea infra- of this decade. If it reaches this target, it will be
structure composed of rigid production and Petrobras’ single most productive asset. ™
injection pipelines and flexible service pipe-
lines,” Petrobras noted.
In its statement, the NOC said that the con-
tract with the consortium was in line with its
“strategy of developing new projects for its own
platforms, incorporating the lessons learned
from the FPSOs already installed in the pre-salt
[zone], including contracting and construction
aspects.” It also reported that the deal was in line
with Brazil’s local content laws, which provide
for Brazilian companies to provide 25% of total
content.
Petrobras has four working FPSOs at Búzios
and hopes to install up to eight more units there.
It has already signed contracts for the fifth, sixth
and seventh vessels, which will be known as the
Almirante Barroso, the Almirante Tamandaré
and the P-78. The P-79 is due to be the eighth The P-79 will be the eighth FPSO installed at the Búzios field (Image: Petrobras)

ARGENTINA
Argentina to invest wealth tax revenues

in efforts to increase gas production

ARGENTINA’S government revealed last will have a great dynamic impact on activity in
week that it intended to use part of the money the producing regions, boosting production,” he
it had collected under a special tax programme was quoted as saying in the statement.
to support efforts to raise domestic natural gas According to Argentina’s Energy Secretariat,
production levels. the South American country produced some
In a statement, Energy Secretary Dario 114.2mn cubic metres per day of gas in April
Martinez noted that Buenos Aires had allo- 2021, the most recent month for which con-
cated around $580mn from the proceeds of firmed data are available. This represents a drop
the programme, which imposed a one-time tax of nearly 21% on the figure of 144.4 mcm per
on individuals with a net worth of ARS200mn day reported for July 2019.
($2.098mn), for investments in gas production. The decline in output is not surprising, given
The funds will be used to bring output back up that the pandemic led to sharp reductions in gas
to the levels prevailing before the advent of the demand and also in gas prices. However, it poses
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, he said. a problem, as current production rates cannot
Martinez indicated that the government had keep up with demand, which averages 140 mcm
not yet assigned the money to any specific pro- per day year-round, peaking at 180 mcm per day
ject. The national oil company (NOC) YPF is during the height of the cooling season between
working with the national gas import concern June and August.
IEASA to decide which fields have the highest As a result, Argentina has had to import
priority, and the parties will announce their more gas this year to satisfy demand, which is
decisions in the near future, he said. recovering. Energy Secretariat data show that
He also declared that he expected the addi- the country imported 15.8 mcm per day on
tional investment to have a significant impact average in the first four months of 2021, up by
on domestic gas yields. “This joint investment 29.5% on the figure of 12.2mn mcm per year
by IEASA and YPF in gas production projects reported for the same period of 2020. ™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 24 17•June•2021