Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 25 2022

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)

Week 25 23•June•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9