Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 20 2020

LatAmOil VENEZUELA LatAmOil
 At least one tanker carrying fuel loaded at an Ira- nian port has set sail for Venezuela, according to vessel-tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon on Wednesday, which could help ease an acute scar- city of gasoline in the South American country.
“Venezuela and Iran are both independent states that have had and will continue to have trade relations with each other,” Iranian gov- ernment spokesman Ali Rabiei was quoted as saying by the YJC news website, linked to Iran’s state broadcaster.
“We sell goods and buy goods in return. This trade has nothing to do with anyone else. We have to sell our oil and we have ways to do it,” Rabiei said, adding that he had no information about the Venezuela-bound vessel.
Separately, a hardline Iranian analyst sug- gested Iran might retaliate against US vessels in the Gulf if Washington took action against the Iranian tanker.
“The US Navy and its allies in the Persian Gulf are hostages to any kind of violation against Iran’s legal international shipping,” Mahdi Mohammadi said on Twitter.
“Before coming to any decision, Trump should ask his friend [British Prime Minister]
Boris Johnson about the details of the British tanker experience,” he said.
Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in the Gulf last year after British forces detained an Iranian tanker off the territory of Gibraltar. Both vessels were released after a months-long standoff.
The Iran-flagged medium tanker Clavel transited the Suez Canal on Wednesday after loading fuel at the end of March at Iran’s port of Bandar Abbas, according to the data.
“News received from informed sources indi- cate that the US Navy has sent four warships and a Boeing P-8 Poseidon from the VP-26 squad- ron to the Caribbean region,” Nour said.
Venezuela is in desperate need of gasoline and other refined fuel products to keep the country functioning amid an economic collapse under socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Ven- ezuela produces crude oil but its infrastructure has been crippled during the economic crisis.
A Venezuelan official said last month that his country had received refining materials by air from Iran to help it start a unit at the 310,000 barrel per day (bpd) Cardon refinery, which is necessary to produce gasoline.™
BRAZIL
Petrobras says no more oil production cuts needed
BRAZIL’S state-run oil firm Petrobras has said it sees no need for more further short-term cuts in oil production, despite lower oil prices and the economic fallout from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
André Barreto Chiarini, the company’s chief logistics officer, said last week that further out- put cuts would not be required. Petrobras has breathing room because the market for some of its products abroad remains robust, he was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Meanwhile, Anelise Lara, the chief of down- stream operations at Petrobras, said the firm still had a strong relationship with small inde- pendent refineries, known as teapots, in China’s Shandong Province. She did not elaborate, but her statement indicates that the company is maintaining strong crude exports to China.
In March, Petrobras announced it would cut oil production by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd), equivalent to around 3% of its total output, until the end of the month. It said that nearly a quarter of these cuts, or 23,000 bpd, would result from the idling of shallow-water platforms that have higher production costs.
This move made Petrobras the first major oil operator to take drastic measures in the hope of
mitigating the impact of the coronavirus out- break. Later, though, the firm said it was trim- ming production by an additional 100,000 bpd and keeping the initial reductions in place. As a result, it brought total output down by 200,000 bpd in March and April.
The Rio de Janeiro-based company has also taken other measures to strengthen itself in the face of the pandemic and sliding oil prices. For example, it has delayed a dividend payment and reduced investments this year by nearly a third to $8.5bn.
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Petrobras hopes to focus on the oil-rich pre-salt zone (Image: Petrobras)
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