Page 17 - LatAmOil Week 14 2020

LatAmOil
NEWS IN BRIEF
LatAmOil
Targeted oil reserves in
Latin America, elsewhere at
risk as top wells for 2020
may face delays
At least nine of the world’s top planned explo- ration wells for 2020 are at risk of being sus- pended as a result of the combined effect on oil and gas activities of the COVID-19 virus and the oil price war, a Rystad Energy impact anal- ysis shows. These wells, located in Norway, Bra- zil, the Bahamas, Guyana, the US, Gambia and Namibia would target a combined 7bn barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
The wells that Rystad Energy has identified as candidates for suspension are at risk because of their commercial viability under the current price levels, shutdowns that affect the supplies of equipment components, operators’ prioritisa- tion among other targets and limitations in crew movements, among other reasons.
“Given the prevailing global situation we now foresee that the cumulative discovered volumes by the end of the year could go even below the 2016 level of 8.9bn boe, which was the decade’s lowest.
This will solely depend upon how many key wildcat wells will still see a spinning drillbit in the coming months, as some of them could be either suspended or postponed,” says Rystad Energy senior upstream analyst Palzor Shenga.
The first quarter of 2020 already started on a low note, as explorers have only uncovered new volumes of around 2.5bn boe. The 22 discover- ies are evenly split between onshore and offshore regions, with gas representing just over half of the volumes. Volumes are down about 40% from the same period of 2019, and the number of dis- coveries has almost halved.
When we entered 2020, Rystad Energy believed that the global discovery trend would continue its upward trajectory with an expected increase in volumes. However, the current global market situation will bring many challenges to
exploration.
The understanding of the geological con-
text and complexities of the subsurface remains unchanged – it is the unexpected market turmoil above the surface that will play the key role in the coming months.
Rystad Energy, April 07 2020
INVESTMENT
Petrobras reports on S&P Global Ratings’ perspective
Petrobras reports that S&P Global Ratings Agency (S&P) has changed the company’s global credit rating outlook from positive to stable, and has kept the risk level (rating) of corporate debt at BB-.
Yesterday the agency revised Brazil’s global credit rating outlook to stable due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, with a consequent increase in extraordinary public spending and impact on Brazil’s GDP growth and fiscal performance in 2020.
As a result, today S&P has changed from pos- itive to stable the outlook for the ratings of all corporate and infrastructure entities whose risk levels are directly or indirectly limited by the sov- ereign rating, including government controlled companies such as Petrobras.
Petrobras, April 07 2020
June 2020 so that we can finalise the negotiations in an orderly fashion. We will update the market when the agreements are finalised.”
Columbus Energy, April 06 2020
Interoil says new share capital registered
Reference is made to the stock exchange notice published by Interoil Exploration and Produc- tion on January 11, 2020 regarding the acqui- sition of an 8.34% participating interest in five mature producing exploitation concessions in Argentina and the issuance of 4,045,539 consid- eration shares to the seller, ROCH.
The share capital increase related to the issuance of these shares has now been regis- tered with the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises. The Company’s new share capital is NOK78,556,755.50 ($7.63mn), divided into 157,113,511 shares, each with a par value of NOK0.50 ($0.049).
Interoil Exploration and Production is a Norwegian based exploration and production company, listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, with a focus on Latin America. The Company is operator of several production and exploration assets in Colombia and Argentina. Interoil cur- rently employs approximately 50 people and is headquartered in Oslo.
Interoil, April 02 2020
LEGAL
Petrobras reaches
settlement in arbitration
involving Sete Brasil
Petrobras reports that it has entered into a set- tlement agreement to end an arbitration filed by an investor in Sete Brasil Participações under judicial reorganisation, seeking compensation from Petrobras for alleged damages related to its investment in the Sondas Project.
In Q1-2020, Petrobras will revert a provi- sion of BRL634mn ($122.62mn) related to the disputes arising from the company Sete Brasil. The terms of the settlement agreement and the arbitration are confidential.
The company remains in defense of its inter- ests in the ongoing proceedings.
Petrobras, April 01 2020
Trinidad: Columbus Energy
extends Goudron IPSC with
Heritage Petroleum
Columbus Energy, the oil and gas producer and explorer with operations in Trinidad and Suri- name, notes that the current term of the Goud- ron Incremental Production Service Contract (IPSC) with Heritage Petroleum Co. was due to expire on April 3, 2020.
The Company confirms that it has reached an agreement with Heritage to extend the term to June 30, 2020, allowing time for the Company and Heritage to finalise the agreements for the longer term extension.
Leo Koot, Executive Chairman, commented: “We are in the final stages of our negotiations with Heritage to agree the terms and conditions for a long-term extension of the Goudron IPSC. We are pleased that we have an extension until
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