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tpy previously. They say the increase “does not Latin America faces sickness, sanctions
involve any equipment changes or environmen- In two South American oil-producing states, the
tal permit adjustments”, and would be achieved coronavirus pandemic and related topics con-
via “production efficiencies”. tinue to dominate headlines.
Separately, QP announced this week that it The Colombian pipeline operator Cenit, a
had signed $19bn worth of order for LNG ships subsidiary of the national oil company (NOC)
from South Korean shipbuilders Daewoo Ship- Ecopetrol, has said it will extend measures
building & Marine Engineering, Hyundai Heavy designed to ease the financial burden on produc-
Industries Holdings and Samsung Heavy Indus- ers that have been hit hard by declining energy
tries. This marks the largest ever single LNG demand and low crude prices. The company
vessel order, covering more than 100 ships to be revealed last week that it intended to cut tariffs,
delivered by 2027. to keep special financing arrangements in place
Qatar’s push on both domestic and overseas for another six months and to be more flexible in
LNG development comes as other planned negotiations with users of its pipelines.
liquefaction projects in North America and In Brazil, more offshore operators are reporting
elsewhere appear to be increasingly in doubt. COVID-19 infections among their contractors and
A handful of North American developers have staff members. As of May 28, the National Agency
already postponed final investment decisions of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) had
(FIDs) from this year until 2021, but analysts are made note of no less than 544 cases. State-owned
now warning that it could be even longer before Petrobras reportedly accounted for hundreds of
any more liquefaction capacity is sanctioned. these cases, and several private firms – including
A number of pre-FID projects in both the US Dommo Energia (Brazil), Enauta Participacoes
and Canada would be greenfield developments, (Brazil), Equinor (Norway), Perenco (UK/France)
adding to their construction cost at a time when and Royal Dutch Shell (UK/Netherlands) – have
LNG prices remain low and securing financing also been hit.
is increasingly challenging. The convergence of Venezuela also continues to draw criticism
LNG prices globally is also throwing the eco- from the US for importing gasoline from Iran.
nomics of shipping the fuel over long distances Officials in Washington have threatened to
into question. penalise any companies found to be involved in
Current trends are compounding the worries the transaction and have also delivered diplomatic
of US LNG developers. Reuters reported on June warnings to governments around the world.
1 that the amount of pipeline gas flowing to US In related news, Libre Abordo, the obscure
LNG export terminals was on track to fall to a Mexican company that has been executing an
nine-month low of 4.3 bcf (122 mcm) per day as oil-for-water agreement with Venezuela, has
cargo cancellations kick in. This is expected to hit declared bankruptcy. Venezuelan President
Cheniere Energy, the US’ leading LNG exporter, Nicolas Maduro has blamed the US sanctions
particularly hard. on his country for Libre Abordo’s woes.

If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
the global LNG sector then please click here for the Latin American oil and gas sector then please click
NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor. here for NewsBase’s LatAmOil Monitor.

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 22 04•June•2020