Page 10 - LatAmOil Week 27 2021

LatAmOil VENEZUEL A LatAmOil

In a move that allowed traders to evade penalties rates took effect on June 12.
under the US sanctions regime, most of these China was not the only destination for Ven-
volumes were officially recorded as Malaysian ezuelan crude. PdVSA also sent 35,300 bpd of
bitumen blends, it noted. crude oil and refined fuels to Cuba, marking
It went on to say that the June figure for Vene- a drop of more than 47% on the May figure of
zuelan shipments to China had been the highest 67,000 bpd, according to the documents cited by
recorded so far this year. The increase occurred Reuters. The NOC also delivered 89,000 bpd of
because traders were eager to send more Vene- high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) to buyers in China
zuelan production to the Chinese market before and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), down
Beijing raised fuel import taxes on Malaysian by more than 56% on the year-to-date high of
bitumen blends by $32 per barrel. The higher 196,000 bpd. ™

GUYANA
ExxonMobil secures extension

of gas-flaring permit for Liza-1

EXXONMOBIL Guyana, a subsidiary of the US it secures special authorisation for a temporary
super-major ExxonMobil, revealed last week increase
that Guyanese authorities had approved its plan When such authorisation is granted, it must
to extend a temporary increase in associated gas pay a penalty at the rate of $30 per tonne of car-
flaring levels at Liza-1, the first producing oil- bon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).
field at the offshore Stabroek block. Guyana’s Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo
The company made its announcement after noted earlier this year that ExxonMobil Guyana
submitting a request to Guyana’s Environmental would owe about $1.3mn for emissions gener-
Protection Agency (EPA) for a 36-day extension ated during its most recent 36-day extension.
of its existing allowance, under which it had per- That extension, which the EPA granted in May,
mission to burn off more than 15mn cubic feet ran from May 26 to June 30.
(424,800 cubic metres) per day until June 30. It ExxonMobil Guyana’s requests for permis-
reported that the agency had agreed to push the sion to raise flaring levels stem from problems
deadline back to July 24 but did not comment with the flash gas compressor (FGC) on the Liza
on the EPA’s decision not to grant the full 36-day Destiny, the floating production, storage and
extension requested. off-loading (FPSO) vessel it has installed at Liza-
Under the current version of its environmen- 1. These problems have hampered the compa-
tal permit, ExxonMobil Guyana is obligated to ny’s efforts to re-inject associated gas back into
keep gas flaring below the pilot level of 15 mmcf the oilfield, thereby putting it in a position of
(424,800 cubic metres) per day outside the time having to burn off more gas or reduce crude
needed for commissioning and start-up unless production.

ExxonMobil is using the Liza Destiny FPSO to develop Liza-1 (Image: ExxonMobil)

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 27 08•July•2021