Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 25 2022
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LatAmOil                                       COLOMBIA                                            LatAmOil



                         Petro has said he will allow existing contracts   could be considerable, given that crude oil
                         to move forward but will not make any new   accounts for more than 23% of the country’s
                         acreage available. It is also likely to put an end   exports.
                         to pilot projects designed to assess the potential   The Colombian Association of Petroleum
                         of the country’s unconventional hydrocarbon   and Gas, an industry group, has estimated that
                         resources through techniques such as hydraulic   the government might end up foregoing about
                         fracturing (fracking).               $4.5bn in tax revenue by 2026 if it decides to halt
                           As such, it may prevent the South American   exploration.
                         country from reversing an ongoing decline in   Luis Fernando Medina, Petro’s top economic
                         the size of its reserves. The national oil company   advisor, has remained relatively tight-lipped on
                         (NOC) Ecopetrol has said that proven crude   the subject since the election. In a Twitter post
                         reserves may run out in as little as seven years.  dated June 21, he indicated that it was too soon
                           There may also be economic consequences,   to answer questions about how the new admin-
                         though the new president did not offer many   istration would cover budget expenses.
                         details about how Colombia might compen-  “A lot of things will only be known when the
                         sate for this during his campaign. The financial   necessary conversations with all of the different
                         impact of stopping exploration consequences   actors involved take place,” he wrote. ™



                                                        GUYANA
       ExxonMobil’s Guyana subsidiary




       EEPGL reports on results in 2021






                         ESSO Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd   recently completed optimisation work on the
                         (EEPGL), a subsidiary of the US super-major   vessel to raise its capacity to 140,000 bpd.
                         ExxonMobil, has reported that it earned a profit   It has now installed a second FPSO at Liza-
                         of $132bn from its activities at the offshore   2, another field within the block. That vessel
                         Stabroek block in 2021.              began handling crude oil from the field in Feb-
                           The company’s total revenue during this   ruary 2022, and it is expected to see production
                         same reporting period was $254bn, while its   capacity reach 220,000 bpd by the third quarter
                         royalty expenses were $5.8bn. Both revenue and   of the year.
                         expenses were up from 2020, with the increases   According to EEPGL’s statement of finan-
                         being attributed to higher production volumes   cial position, the company’s total assets are $1.3
                         throughout 2021. Lease expenses during this   trillion, a rise of 30% on the previous year due
                         reporting period were mostly derived from the   to a boost in incremental investments at the
                         Liza Destiny, the floating, production, storage   Stabroek block. ™
                         and off-loading (FPSO) vessel. Nevertheless,
                         these expenses were down by 15% on the pre-
                         vious year.
                           According to the company, 2021 was the first
                         year that EEPGL turned a profit since beginning
                         work at the offshore Guyanese oil block in 1999.
                         Phillip Rietema, the ExxonMobil subsidiary’s
                         vice president and business services manager,
                         described the company’s strong performance as
                         a reflection of the years of investment that have
                         finally paid off.
                           “Our total investments to date total $1.3 tril-
                         lion, and with our partners it is over $3 trillion,”
                         Rietema said. “The plans we have in place out to
                         2025 will take investments north of $6 trillion.
                         We continue to invest greater than the returns
                         we receive and we will continue to do so for
                         many years.”
                           EEPGL began development work on the Liza
                         Phase 1 project in 2019, and the Liza Destiny
                         FPSO installed at the field has a design capacity
                         of 120,000 barrels per day (bpd). The company   EEPGL is extracting crude oil from the Liza-1 and Liza-2 fields (Image: ExxonMobil)



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