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NEWS IN BRIEF
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“When credit quality is impaired, it can have e ects not only on the nancial cost but also on the availability of credit,” he was quoted as say- ing by Reuters. “ at is why we have determined that this is an element that must be addressed.”
Trump’s Mexican tariff plan
could hurt US gas producers
by causing price drop
Industry observers have criticised the Trump administration’s threat to impose tariffs on imported goods from Mexico, saying that such a move might have negative consequences for nat- ural gas producers in the United States, accord- ing to a report from Forbes..
Mexico is currently the largest foreign market for piped US gas and also buys US LNG cargoes, Forbes noted last week. e country is currently importing the equivalent of around 5-7% of total US gas production, enough to cover more than 70% of its own domestic demand, it added.
As a result, if the Mexican market were to contract as a result of new customs duties, US gas prices might drop by 30-35%, Forbes said. is is an unsustainably low level, it remarked.
Argentina’s power plants
to burn more gas following
blackout
Argentina’s energy secretariat said on June 18 that the country would rely more heavily on natural gas fueled power plants over the next 15 days.
is shi away from hydropower and toward combined-cycle gas generation should reduce the risk of another massive power outage simi- lar to the one that hit Argentina and its neighbor Uruguay on June 16, it said. Buying enough LNG
to keep these plants in operation is likely to cost Buenos Aires about US$3.5 million, it added.
Nevertheless, Argentinian consumers are ready to pay this extra price, since the country is currently in the winter and needs additional gas to cover domestic demand for heating, the secretariat said.
As of press time, the cause of the blackout was still under investigation, and inquiries were set to last for around 15 days. e Argentinian press has reported that around 50 million people were a ected by the outage, which had its start in a transmission line between two power plants in Salto Grande and Yacyreta. e blackout cut power in all of Argentina and Uruguay and also affected consumers in Brazil, Chile and Par- aguay. It also had a disruptive impact on some gubernatorial elections in Argentina.
MOVES
PdVSA’s head of supply and trading steps down
The Venezuelan government’s official gazette reported last week that Jose Rojas Reyes had stepped down from his post as vice president of trading and supply at the state oil company PdVSA. Marcos Reyes, the company’s vice pres- ident of international a airs, is now lling the post on an interim basis, it noted.
e gazette did not reveal the reason for Rojas Reyes’ departure, but it did con rm that PdVSA’s current board chairman – Manuel Quevedo, a general in the National Guard who also heads the Oil Ministry – would remain in place.
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