Page 19 - LatAmOil Week 46

LatAmOil BRAZIL LatAmOil

Imports from the US increased despite a back- total base oil output dropped to 2mn barrels,
drop of ongoing disruption along the US Gulf down 23% from 2.61mn barrels during the same
Coast last month following a series of major period of last year.
storms that started in August. Hurricanes this The drop is mainly down to the slowdown
year threatened three of the four major US in production at state-controlled Petrobras’
Group II base oil suppliers, and up to an esti- REDUC plant since February, as well as a shut-
mated 40% of virgin production capacity was down at its RLAM refinery.
offline during that period. These developments have forced Brazil-
US refiners have also kept their rates reduced ian domestic blenders to cover more of their
in recent months because of ongoing weak requirements via base oil imports. ™
demand for gasoline and diesel due to the coro-
navirus (COVID-19) pandemic that led to
oversupply.
Higher import volumes also contrasted with
a sharp decline in Brazil’s base oil production
in the same period. Local Brazilian supply has
been limited since June, driving an increase in
demand for US imports.
After a slight rebound in August, Brazil’s base
oil output declined in September, forcing the
country to rely on imports for a growing share
of its requirements. The country’s base oil out-
put slid to 195,601 barrels in September, down
from 215,715 barrels the previous month, latest
government data showed.
Between January and September, Brazil’s A shutdown at the RLAM refinery affected base oils production (Image: Petrobras)

Petrobras launches teaser stage

of legacy Marlim cluster sale

BRAZIL’S national oil company (NOC) Petro- bpd of oil and 2.062 mcm per day of gas. Mean-
bras has opened the opportunity disclosure, or while, Marlim and Voador, which share the
teaser, stage of its planned sale of a legacy asset same production infrastructure, yielded 68,900
known as the Marlim cluster. bpd of oil and 934,000 cubic metres per day of
In a press release dated November 16, the gas during the same period. Marlim Leste, for
state-controlled firm stated that it was ready its part, produced 38,500 bpd of oil and 615,000
to begin the process of unloading a 50% stake cubic metres per day of gas between January and
in the cluster, which lies in a deepwater section October.
of the Campos basin. It also said it intended to
keep the remaining 50% of equity and would
continue acting as operator of the project.
Petrobras did not say exactly when it would
begin accepting bids for Marlim or what price it
expected to fetch for the asset. Instead, it invited
potential investors to review the requirements
for participation in the upcoming sale.
The Marlim cluster includes four oilfields –
Marlim, Marlim Leste, Marlim Sul and Voador –
that lie under waters up to 2,500 metres in depth.
It has been in production for more than 30 years
and is currently yielding about 217,000 barrels
per day (bpd) of oil and 3.6mn cubic metres
(mcm) per day of gas, equivalent to around 10%
of Petrobras’ total production.
Currently, Marlim Sul accounts for the
largest share of the oil and gas extracted from
the cluster; in the first 10 months of the year, it
reported average production rates of 109,600 The Marlim cluster includes four fields in the Campos basin (Image: Petrobras)

Week 46 19•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P19