Page 15 - LatAmOil Week 20 2020

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As a result, Brazilian importers are becoming increasingly reluctant to make plans for bring- ing fuel into the country in June or July.
Levels of interest in such shipments were already low, owing to the gap between the wholesale prices paid by the national oil com- pany (NOC) Petrobras and world market prices for gasoline blending components. This gap has been in place for some time, and it has only been exacerbated by the recent weakening of Brazil’s national currency, the real. As a result, the arbi- trage window for gasoline imports has remained
closed since the beginning of May.
Another factor reinforcing the differ-
ence between prices for locally produced and imported gasoline is the recent uptick in domes- tic LPG consumption. Brazilian refineries have been turning out more LPG to meet demand for cooking gas, which has become more popular as a result of public health measures that aim to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak by keeping people at home. Higher refinery runs have led to increases in gasoline supplies, Argus Media explained. ™
Brazilian NOC reports oil finds at Buzios, Albacora fields
THE Brazilian state-run major Petrobras has reported two new finds in the oil-rich pre-salt region, its core producing area.
The Rio de Janeiro-based company said it had found a reservoir of “optimum-quality” crude at Buzios, an oilfield in the Santos Basin. In a statement, it said it had encountered 208 metres of oil pay in a well drilled within the south-east section of the field, around 210 km from Rio de Janeiro. The drilling site is located in water depths of 2,108 metres, it said.
“The oil, of excellent quality and compatible with what was found in other wells in the field, was proven through tests carried out from 5,400 metresofdepth,”thecompanyreported.
Petrobras operates the Buzios field in a consortium with China National Offshore
Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corp. (CNODC). The latter is a wholly owned sub- sidiary of state-run China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC).
The Brazilian major has a 90% stake in the licence area, while the two Chinese firms each hold a 5% interest.
The Buzios field was initially discovered a decade ago. It is the largest deepwater oilfield in the world, according to Petrobras. In mid- March, Buzios saw output rise to a record high of 640,000 barrels per day (bpd).
In related news, the Brazilian company also saidithadfoundanewoilwellatAlbacora.This field also lies in the pre-salt zone but is within the Campos Basin.
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Both fields lie with the pre-salt zone (Image: Petrobras)
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