Page 16 - LatAmOil Week 28 2020

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Against this backdrop, some employees of Petrobras, the national oil company (NOC), have complained that they were not adequately prepared for, protected from or treated for COVID-19. Reuters cited the example of three men who fell ill while working on the compa- ny’s PXA-1 platform in early May, noting that all three had said Petrobras failed to take basic steps to prevent the spread of disease.
e men have been quoted by the Brazilian press as saying that the NOC did not engage in basic practices such as supplying well-made face masks or testing workers preparing to leave for o shore duty for infection, it said. ey have also been joined by Paolo Valterson, the health director of the local oil and gas workers’ union, in criticising Petrobras for waiting several days before sending the men back to shore for mon- itoring and care.
e company sent them to a hotel in the city of Fortaleza for a 15-day quarantine that began
four days a er they began to exhibit symptoms of the virus.
Meanwhile, the news agency said, some Bra- zilian government o cials have raised questions about Petrobras’ response to the pandemic – and they have taken steps to get answers. According to Reuters, federal prosecutors had launched 25 investigations related to COVID-19 outbreaks on the company’s marine and o shore facilities as of mid-June. Likewise, local prosecutors have opened an investigation into the aforemen- tioned incident on PXA-1.
Petrobras operates more than 150 o shore rigs, many of which were installed to drill for oil at elds in the promising pre-salt zone. e oil and gas workers’ union began calling for the company to test all o shore workers for infec- tion prior to departure in March. As of June 29, more than 43% of the people employed directly or indirectly by the company had been tested for COVID-19, Reuters noted. ™
ARGENTINA
Argentina looking to revive plans for expansion of gas pipelines
ARGENTINA’S natural gas regulator Enargas is taking steps to revive a pipeline expansion pro- gramme that has been on hold.
e agency has recently held meetings with a number of gas distribution companies to dis- cuss planned but postponed projects that could be revived. Around 10 rms sent representatives to those meetings, including Ecogas, Naturgy, Litoral Gas, Gas Nea and Naturgy Ban, accord- ing to the local press.
e schemes under discussion include Gaso- ducto Norte in Santa Cruz Province, Gasoducto Sur in Mendoza and Córdoba provinces, Gaso- ducto de la Costa in Buenos Aires Province and a section of Gasoducto Regional Sur in Santa Fe Province.
e government has resuscitated plans to expand these distribution networks in line with its wider e orts to encourage gas companies to maintain production at pre-pandemic levels by providing subsidies and other forms of support.
Last month, the administration of President Alberto Fernández said it had agreed to pay out $250mn under a subsidy programme that has been on hold. Payments are expected to resume in August once the government hammers out a deal with producers.
e programme aims to help sustain output at a number of gas blocks in the Vaca Muerta shale formation and is likely to bene t two local rms, Tecpetrol and CGC, the most. e gov- ernment is currently in negotiations over the
deal with state-run YPF and other operators. It is hoping to strike a four-year deal with producers, as this term would cover the rst year of any new government that assumes power.
State support could play a crucial role in e orts to plug a looming supply gap in 2021, according to a report by local daily LMNeu- quen. Fernández’s administration is reported to be concerned about the fact that gas production has fallen.
O cials in Buenos Aires have warned that if output remains at current levels, the country will fall short of demand projections by up to 30mn cubic metres per day during the winter months in 2021. In turn, they say, this supply gap could force Argentina to buy more LNG from foreign suppliers, thereby putting further pressure on its import-export balance. ™
Enargas is eyeing several projects (Photo: Enargas)
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 28 16•July•2020