Page 6 - LatAmOil Week 40 2019
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It also noted that Mexico’s National Hydrocar- bons Commission, known by its Spanish acro- nym CNH, had already greenlighted the deal.
Ray Fohr, a spokesman for Chevron, pointed out that the farm-in deal with Shell would expand the US major’s footprint in Mexico. “ is agreement further strengthens the com- pany’s upstream Mexico portfolio and advances its growth strategy in deepwater exploration,” he was quoted as saying in the statement.
Chevron’s Mexican subsidiary is already involved in two deepwater projects. It is serv- ing as operator of Block 3, which lies in the Gulf of Mexico within the Perdido Basin o shore Tamaulipas, and of Block 22, which lies in the Salina Basin o shore Veracruz and Tabasco.
Talos’ tale
e announcement of the deal between Shell and Chevron came shortly after Reuters reported that Talos Energy, an independent US
company, was preparing to exit one of its pro- jects in Mexico. Sources with knowledge of the matter told the news agency last week that Talos Energy and its UK-based partner Premier Oil had decided to quit Block 2, a site they won the right to explore and develop in 2015, during Mexico’s rst shallow-water bidding round.
e sources stated that Talos and Premier had opted not to proceed with work at Block 2 because they had failed to discover commer- cially viable reserves of crude oil or natural gas. e companies have already noti ed CNH of their intentions, they reported.
Talos and Premier are also working together at Block 7, a shallow-water field offshore Tabasco. ey discovered oil there in the Zama eld in 2017. According to rumours that have emerged in the last few weeks, Mexico’s national oil company (NOC) Pemex is considering tak- ing control of Block 7 so that it can develop it jointly with a neighbouring site.
Ecuador’s oil minister comments
on OPEC departure, production plans
ECUADOR
ECUADOR’S Hydrocarbons Minister Carlos Perez has o ered some insight into his country’s decision to withdraw from OPEC last week, saying that Quito has opted to leave because it is not in a position to comply with the group’s production policy.
OPEC has set Ecuador’s quota at 528,000 barrels per day, but the country has been extract- ing oil at the rate of 548,000 bpd, Perez told Reu- ters. Ecuador has not incurred any penalties for this over-production but is uneasy about con- tinuing its current course, he said. “ ey haven’t reprimanded us, but we feel uncomfortable not respecting the agreements,” he commented.
Returning to compliance is not an option, given that Ecuador is working to increase oil output in order to boost government revenues, he added. “We hope to reach 560,000 bpd this year, and next year we will be at an average 590,000 bpd daily ... We need to increase pro- duction because of the economic situation ... [and] to have enough money for investments,” he said.
Some of the additional barrels will come from existing elds. For example, the national oil company (NOC) Petroamazonas has said it will drill new wells at the Ishpingo-Tamboco- cha-Tiputini block in order to push output up from its current level of 82,658 bpd.
According to Perez, it will also seek to convince the government to cut the invest- ment budget by just $177mn this year and not by $407mn, as previously announced.
Petroamazonas needs the extra funds to main- tain production and to continue drilling, he said. Quito also hopes to bring new fields on stream, he added. Ecuador’s government will try to auction off exploration rights to eight blocks within the highly prospective Intracam- pos II area in November, he told Reuters, and will invite potential partners to bid in 2020 for offshore production licences covering heavy crude oil and natural gas deposits in the Gulf of
Guayaquil.
e minister went on to say that Petroamazo-
nas intended to begin upgrade work at its largest re nery, the 110,000 bpd Esmeraldas plant. O - cials in Quito will call a tender to nd a partner capable of owning, operating and improving the facility, partly to boost e ciency levels and partly to enable the production of re ned fuels that meet Euro-5 emissions standards.
Hydrocarbons Minister Carlos Perez (Photo: Ecuador Hydrocarbons Ministry)
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 40 10•October•2019
