Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 17 2021

LatAmOil VENEZUEL A LatAmOil

Additionally, he indicated that Venezuela’s gov- reform. But the president, like his late prede-
ernment was not looking to overhaul the legal cessor Hugo Chavez, has shown little interest in
regime governing the country’s oil industry, as making this sort of change.
opposition parties have recommended, even The US government – which has been calling
though it might make some minor changes. The on Maduro to step down from office since late
National Assembly may revise laws that have 2018, when he secured re-election in a referen-
“some degree of obsolescence,” he said, without dum widely viewed as fraudulent – has imposed
elaborating. sanctions on the Venezuelan government and
Maduro’s political opponents have repeat- on the Venezuelan oil sector.
edly urged the government to revamp or replace The trade restrictions are designed to dis-
the oil law, arguing that the country has little courage investment in oil projects, which have
chance of attracting large-scale investment in long been the country’s main source of hard
hydrocarbon projects if it does not undertake currency. ™

GUYANA
Guyana reveals details of GTP project

GUYANA’S government has revealed more
details about its plans for a gas-to-power (GTP)
project that will use associated gas from Liza-1,
an offshore oilfield within the Stabroek block,
as fuel for electricity generation. Those details
emerged on April 27, when Vice-President
Bharrat Jagdeo joined members of the govern-
ment’s GTP taskforce in Georgetown to present
plans for the project to reporters.
The presentation was led by Winston Brass-
ington, the head of the taskforce, who reported
that the project had been under discussion for
more than four years. According to Brassing-
ton, as a result of those discussions, Guyanese
authorities and ExxonMobil, the US-based
operator of Stabroek, are now planning to build
a pipeline to pump gas from Liza-1 to shore and
a gas-processing facility that will include a ther- The pipeline will make landfall at the Wales Industrial Site (Image: OilNOW.gy)
mal power plant (TPP), as well as a mixed-use
development facility that will accommodate he declared.
residential buildings, businesses and industrial With respect to setting project goals, Brass-
facilities. ington said that Georgetown and ExxonMobil
Since 2016, Brassington noted, the parties had “reached an agreement on some of the key
have been able to conduct multiple studies, set considerations.” One part of the agreement
a timeline for the project, reach agreement on concerned the $900mn budget for the project,
costs, select the site where the GTP pipeline will he said.
make landfall and define key goals. More spe- “Secondly, we agreed that [ExxonMobil]
cifically, he said, they succeeded in completing will fund the pipeline out of cost oil,” he added.
at least five studies between 2016 and 2020 and “Thirdly, we had an upper limit of the estimated
have set a deadline of 2024 for finishing work on cost of [1 kWh] of power from gas delivered at
the pipeline. They also agreed to set $900mn as the Wales location. That upper limit was $0.035
the upper limit for capital expenditures on the per kWh.”
project, he added.
He went on to say that the parties had looked Fuel costs and gas volumes
at more than 20 locations before selecting the Jagdeo also drew attention to the projected cost
Wales Industrial Site as the place where the GTP of power produced at the Wales Industrial Site,
pipeline will make landfall. saying that the TPP would allow the country to
Wales turned out to be the best choice for spend less on petroleum product imports.
several reasons, he said. These included reason- Currently, he noted, Georgetown spends
able land prices, distance from population cen- about $150mn per year for refined fuels that are
tres, suitability for development, low flooding more polluting than gas, and the TPPs that use
risk, ability to accommodate the facilities slated these fuels turn out electricity that is sold at a
for construction and overall economic viability, price of $0.10 per kWh.

Week 17 29•April•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9