Page 16 - LatAmOil Week 34

LatAmOil ARGENTINA LatAmOil

According to the prosecutors’ report, Andersen The Danish company told Reuters that it
left the shipping company in 2017. The alleged takes the charges “very seriously and remains
crimes relate to an eight-year period between committed to co-operating with the authorities.”
2006 and 2014. Meanwhile, Petrobras said in a written
Brazilian prosecutors allege that Andersen response that it has been collaborating with offi-
inflated shipping contract prices before trans- cials since 2014 and would continue to do so.
ferring the proceeds to Wanderley Gandra, a Copenhagen-headquartered Maersk’s offices
Maersk commercial representative. They also in Brazil were raided by prosecutors last year.
say that Gandra then sent some of the money The firm is one of dozens of companies, includ-
to former Petrobras executive Paulo Roberto ing Petrobras, to have been investigated since
Costa, who went on to supply confidential infor- 2014 as part of the Lava Jato (“Car Wash”) scan-
mation on the state-run oil company’s shipping dal. Lava Jato, as the biggest corruption scandal
requirements back to Maersk, Reuters wrote. in Brazil’s history, has seen more than a hundred
A judge will now decide whether to launch a people enter plea bargains with prosecutors. It
criminal case against Andersen and Gandra or has also implicated former Brazilian president
to drop the charges. Dilma Rousseff. ™

ARGENTINA
Argentina replaces energy secretary as oil

and gas industry struggles

THE government of Argentina has reportedly officials in Buenos Aires have raised concerns
replaced Energy Secretary Sergio Lanziani with about the possibility of a natural gas shortage
a legislator from hydrocarbon-rich Neuquen before the end of the winter.
Province, as the oil and gas sector struggles with Restrictions on movement and work, as well
the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. as low oil prices and the slide in demand that
Production Minister Matias Kulfas asked have followed the pandemic, have all put pres-
Lanziani to step down, a government source told sure on the sector. They drove state-run YPF to
Reuters last week. Kulfas and the energy secre- close down half of its producing wells at Loma
tary have been at odds with each other for some Campana, its flagship field at Vaca Muerta. A
time, according to local press reports. number of other firms have also reduced out-
Lanziani held his position for just eight put. ™
months – that is, since Argentina’s current
administration, led by President Alberto Fer-
nandez, took office last December. A congress-
man from oil rich-Neuquen, Dario Martinez,
has already been named as his replacement.
Martinez has served as president of the lower
house’s energy commission and has also worked
at YPF, the national oil company (NOC).
Reuters’ source said the congressman had “a
very good relationship with Alberto Fernandez
and all the other sectors that make up the Frente
de Todos,” referring to Fernandez’s political
coalition.
Neuquen Province is home to most of Vaca
Muerta, a shale formation that is one of the larg-
est in the world. Vaca Muerta is around the size
of Belgium and contains around 308 trillion
cubic feet (8.722 trillion cubic metres) of shale
gas and 16.2bn barrels of oil, according to the
US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Argentina’s government has pinned much of
its hope for economic recovery on the develop-
ment of Vaca Muerta. But fields in the forma-
tion and elsewhere have been hit hard by the
pandemic. The country’s crude oil production
plunged to its lowest level in 20 years in May, and Oil and gas production is down at Vaca Muerta fields (Photo: BBVA)

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 34 27•August•2020