Page 11 - AsianOil Week 07 2022
P. 11
AsianOil EAST ASIA AsianOil
China reportedly prepared to renegotiate
oil-for-loans deal with Ecuador
POLICY CHINA’S government is prepared to renegotiate take advantage of China and Ecuador in these
the terms of its debt agreements with Ecuador so agreements,” he said during the interview. “We
as to break the link between payment and crude are not selling oil directly to China, which was
oil sales, according to President Guillermo Lasso. the intention of the contracts.”
In a broadcast interview after a state visit to Ecuador will not borrow any more funds
Beijing, Lasso said he had discussed the matter from China this year, he added.
with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and The president went on to say that he intended
other high-ranking officials. The Chinese side to make all confidential information about the
has agreed to Ecuador’s request for a change in oil-backed loan deals with China public but did
the terms of the deals, which have a combined not say when that might happen. The terms of
value of $4.6bn, he stated. the agreements – most of which were signed
Lasso did not reveal all of the changes that during the administration of Rafael Correa, who
Quito wanted to make to the loan agreements. served as president between 2007 and 2017 – had
He did say, though, that Ecuadorean authori- previously been kept secret.
ties wanted to Beijing to reschedule upcoming Ecuador has signed at least 15 oil-for-loans
maturities and reduce interest rates, as well as deals with the Chinese government since 2008.
decoupling payments and oil sales. Under those agreements, China pays in advance
He also explained that his government for crude deliveries from Petroecuador, the
believed the loan deals harmed Ecuador’s interest national oil company (NOC), and Ecuador uses
in their current form because they offered such the proceeds of those shipments to cover its loan
significant benefits to the intermediary com- payments. The NOC and the other parties to the
panies involved in moving the crude to China. deal have never revealed how much crude China
“Many Ecuadorian and foreign intermediaries is receiving as a result of these arrangements.
OCEANIA
Strike makes South Erregulla gas discovery
PROJECTS & AUSTRALIA’S Strike Energy announced this planning to collect whole core and an advanced
COMPANIES week that it had made a conventional gas discov- series of wireline logs across the Kingia sand-
ery with the South Erregulla-1 (SE-1) appraisal stones that would be flow tested if these drilling
well in Western Australia’s Perth Basin. efforts are successful. The company cited 3D
The company said it had encountered gas seismic data that it said supported the presence
in the Wagina formation, which is located at a of gas-charged porous sands in the Kingia sand-
depth of 4,072 metres and was found to consist stone at South Erregulla.
of gas-charged sands with a thickness of up to Additionally, it reported that it had encoun-
160 metres. tered a potential carbon storage target in the
Strike drew comparisons between this dis- Jurassic sandstones within the Cattamarra coal
covery and the nearby Beharra Springs, but the measures. Strike described the target as a “very
gas column it encountered at Beharra springs is high-quality” reservoir, with an average poros-
estimated to be only 40 metres. ity of 19% but going up to 23% in places. The
The company said it was gathering pressures reservoir is non-hydrocarbon-bearing, it said,
and samples via a wireline campaign before but “has many of the characteristics of a suitable
finalising petrophysical analysis. It will add location for the storage of captured carbon”.
the discovery to its well-testing programme Strike will now conduct geotechnical and
to retrieve the final data required for a formal engineering studies on the reservoir to assess
resource assessment. its suitability for a potential carbon capture
Drilling of the production section of SE-1 and storage (CCS) programme. This comes as
into the Kingia sandstone, the primary tar- interest in CCS picks up amid the accelerating
get, still needs to take place. Strike said it was energy transition.
Week 07 18•February•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11
