Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 38 2022

LatAmOil COLOMBIA LatAmOil

Reficar is now handling about 200,000 bpd of crude (Photo: McDermott International)
This reputation is problematic, given that the time, it sent 43% of all the fuel it turned out to
refinery is primarily focused on production for foreign buyers. (Most of these were customers
the export market – unlike Ecopetrol’s Barran- in the US, the Caribbean and Central America.)
cabermeja refinery, which turns out fuels for the Ecopetrol has shown interest in raising
domestic market. petroleum product exports.
Colombia is one of the few oil producers However, fuel market sources told S&P
in Latin America that can produce more than Global Platts that the NOC would have an easier
enough refined fuels to meet domestic demand. time achieving this goal if resolved its issues with
It has been an exporter of light petroleum prod- quality and consistency.
ucts for some time, and in 2019, the last year for “You just flip a coin because you don’t know if
which verified data were available as of press the quality is working,” one trader remarked. ™

GUYANA
Jagdeo pushes back against claims of

government overspending on Stabroek

GUYANA’S Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said
last week that many Guyanese citizens were
overestimating the government’s influence on
day-to-day activities at the offshore Stabroek
block, where development is being led by
Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd
(EEPGL), a local affiliate of ExxonMobil (US).
Speaking in an interview with a local radio
station, Jagdeo said there were misconcep-
tions among the public about the agreements
between EEPGL and the Guyanese government.
According to the vice president, many Guyanese
citizens misunderstand the true nature of the
partnership with EEPGL.
He was responding to host Glenn Lall’s
claims that EEPGL’s leases of floating produc-
tion, storage and off-loading units (FPSOs) EEPGL is leading exploration and development at Stabroek (Image: ExxonMobil)
along with other modes of transportation such
as helicopters were causing Guyana to lose “mil- The vice president dismissed these claims,
lions” of dollars. Under these circumstances, Lall saying that Lall, like many others in Guyana,
asserted, the government has a right to intervene did not have a full understanding of the Exx-
in EEPGL’s rental choices. He also claimed that onMobil subsidiary’s contract or of the scope of
Guyana was a 50% partner in the Stabroek pro- authority that Georgetown has over operations
ject in an effort to bolster his argument. at Stabroek.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 38 21•September•2022