Page 10 - LatAmOil Week 45 2022

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He went on to say that Georgetown was intent with a capacity of 60,000 bpd. DEPC believes
on building a small refinery and would stick this project could create as many as 10,000 jobs,
to its plan to build a facility with a throughput but Georgetown is sceptical on many fronts, he
capacity of 30,000 bpd. This is partly because said.
the government does not want to be locked into The company’s plan is “all nonsense,” he said,
an agreement with a producer for the supply of adding: “A lot of it doesn’t even make sense.” A
large quantities of feedstock, he stated. A deal of large oil-processing plant would be too emis-
this scale does not offer sufficient flexibility and sions-intensive and too focused on external
would generate too much in the way of green- markets, he added.
house gas (GHG) emissions, he commented. Investors that are interested in participat-
He noted that one US company, Delta Energy ing in the refinery project should submit their
and Petroleum Corp. (DEPC), had said publicly offers via the RFP process, which allows the gov-
that it was willing to build a 240,000 bpd refinery ernment to vet potential investors properly, he
in Berbice by setting up four modular units, each added. ™

BRAZIL
Seadrill launches drilling operations

at Bacalhau oilfield, Equinor reports

EQUINOR Brazil, a subsidiary of Norway’s the development phase of Bacalhau, which
Equinor, reported last week that its contractor means more local value for Brazil.”
Seadrill Management (UK) had begun drilling The West Saturn drillship, which has been
operations at Bacalhau, an oilfield located off- outfitted with advanced features such as a dual
shore Brazil in the Santos basin. turret and automatic drill control, is expected to
In a statement, the company said that Seadrill meet all of the drilling requirements of Equinor
Management was using its West Saturn drillship Brazil and its partners through the Bacalhau
for the project. The vessel is capable of drilling expansion project.
in waters up to 3,600 metres deep, and Bacalhau The Norwegian company and its partners
lies in waters that are more than 2,000 metres are using the rig under a contract with Seadrill
deep, it noted. Management that includes four one-year exten-
“The start of drilling at Bacalhau is an sion options. This contract covers mobilisation,
important milestone for Equinor’s growing modernisation and integrated services.
portfolio in Brazil,” Veronica Coelho, presi- Equinor announced in July 2022 that it
dent of Equinor Brasil, commented. “We have intended to contract a second rig for use in the
contracted a sixth-generation, high-tech rig Bacalhau expansion project in tandem with
for the first phase of the drilling campaign. It is West Saturn. This second rig will begin operat-
expected to generate around 3,000 jobs during ing in early 2023.

Equinor is using the West Saturn drillship at Bacalhau (Image: Seadrill Management)

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 45 09•November•2022