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The second phase, meanwhile, will cost another that the EPC contract was likely to be awarded
$2.0bn. It will involve extending the pipeline to to an Argentinian firm.
San Jeronimo, expanding the capacity of the sys- “A local firm will probably be involved,” he
tem to 44 mcm per day and making upgrades to said. “There is ample experience in building gas
Argentina’s existing Gasoducto Norte pipeline pipelines in Argentina. I would expect them to
system, including compression stations in the work in a consortium with other firms, possibly
northern part of the country and flow reversal international.”
operations. Rooney did not name any potential
As of press time, IEASA had not said when contractors.
it expected to launch construction. However, Vaca Muerta is one of the largest shale basins
Ignacio Rooney, a principal at Wood Macken- in the world. The formation is around the size
zie in Buenos Aires, told NGI last week that he of Belgium and contains around 308 trillion
anticipated the company calling a tender for cubic feet (8.722 trillion cubic metres) of shale
engineering, procurement and construction gas, according to the US Energy Information
(EPC) services in the near future. He also said Administration (EIA). ™

ECUADOR
CNPC wins first drilling contract

at Ecuador’s Ishpingo oilfield

ECUADOR’S Energy Minister Juan Carlos In order to attract further interest from
Bermeo announced in late February that China oil companies, Ecuador has submitted legal
National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) had been reforms that will see the migration of existing oil
awarded its first drilling contract for the Ish- service contracts to profit-sharing agreements; a
pingo oilfield, located near the Yasuni National proposal that has garnered much interest from
Park. prospective companies.
“WE have a lot of hope [for] the Ishpingo field,” Another avenue that the government
Bermeo said following the signing of the deal intends to take in order to assist in its produc-
with CNPC. tion increase is the relocation of the country’s
Prior to the agreement, the Chinese com- most important pipelines, many of which have
pany had to secure an environmental licence for seen their operations interrupted multiple
the sensitive area, which contains heavy crude times because of landslides and adverse weather
oil. During its first drilling campaign, CNPC will events. This $200mn project is still pending the
sink 40 wells over a period of 18 months. allocation of budget fund by the state-owned
The CNPC contract is expected to contribute company Petroecuador. ™
to Ecuador’s efforts to ramp up its national oil
production. The government has a production
target of 580,000 barrels per day of crude this
year, a significant increase from the 477,300 bpd
produced in 2021.
Currently, the government is struggling to lift
a prohibition on the extension of the Ishpingo
licence. Should it be successful in this endeav-
our, CNPC will be able to install an additional
seven onshore production platforms, a feat that
could raises output levels by 150,000 bpd.
In the meantime, Ecuador plans to continue
exporting a large portion of its crude through
open-market tenders. This, together with the
approval of a new hydrocarbon law, has enabled
the South American country to move forward
with auctions for gas and oil exploration projects
beyond the contract awarded to CNPC. Ishpingo is a field within the onshore ITT block (Image: Amazon Watch)

Week 09 03•March•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P13