Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 27 2021

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Ecopetrol has offered to buy 51.4% of ISA (File Photo)

Lukoil to take the reins at Area 4

RUSSIA’S Lukoil is slated to acquire a 50% stake fields contain some 564mn barrels of oil equiva-
in the production-sharing agreement (PSA) lent (boe) in recoverable reserves, with crude oil
covering Area 4, located offshore Campeche accounting for 80% of the total.
State in the southern Gulf of Mexico, from the PetroBAL acquired the right to develop the
site’s current operator PetroBAL, a subsidiary of block in 2016, when it signed the PSA, which
Mexico’s GrupoBAL. has a term of 25 years and an option for a 10-year
The Russian company announced the acqui- extension. It has said it wants to develop the
sition in a statement dated July 5, saying it had licence area in three stages, the first of which is
signed an agreement with PetroBAL on the due to begin production in the third quarter of
project. The agreement provides for Lukoil to this year. Output levels will eventually peak at
become the operator of Area 4 as well as a share- around 115,000 boe per day (boepd).
holder in the PSA, the statement said. Vagit Alekperov, the president of Lukoil, said
Lukoil estimated the value of the transac- he expected the Area 4 project to benefit his
tion at $435mn plus any expenditures incurred company.
this year by the closing date of the deal. It also “Lukoil considers Mexico a strategic region
noted that the asset acquisition would have to be for the development of our international
approved by Mexico’s government. upstream operations,” he commented. “The new
The deal will allow the Russian major to lead project, where we will be the operator, is notable
development operations within a 58-square km due to its considerable explored reserves and
area that lies 42 km from shore in waters ranging significant production potential. It naturally
from 30 to 45 metres deep. Area 4 contains two complements our existing portfolio of projects
oilfields known as Pokoch and Ichalkil. These in the Gulf of Mexico.” ™

Fire erupts at Ku-Maloob-Zaap

FIRE broke out last week at Ku-Maloob-Zaap, the affected pipeline.
one of Mexico’s largest offshore oilfields, after a The fire did not lead to any deaths or injuries.
gas leak developed in a pipeline near the Ku-C It was extinguished within about five and a half
drilling platform. hours, and Pemex said later on the same day that
According to press reports, the blaze began it would investigate the matter.
on the morning on July 2 at a site about 150 Company representatives, along with Mex-
metres from the Ku-C platform. Mexico’s ican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador,
national oil company (NOC) Pemex responded said several days later that the blaze appeared to
by dispatching firefighting ships to the scene, have triggered by a lightning strike. They also
closing interconnection valves in the pipeline to asserted that the incident had not caused any
contain the leak and injecting inert nitrogen into environmental damage.

Week 27 08•July•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7