Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 26 2022

LatAmOil BRAZIL LatAmOil

The president’s statement appears to be a veiled what terms. However, the president did refer on
criticism of the national oil company (NOC) June 27 to Putin’s previous pledges to continue
Petrobras, which has hiked domestic fuel prices delivering fertiliser to Brazil despite the conflict
multiple times this year, in line with world crude in Ukraine. “We have food security and energy
prices. Bolsonaro has repeatedly blasted the security,” he declared.
NOC for these price increases on the grounds Russia is Brazil’s main supplier of fertil-
that they are burdensome to Brazilian consum- iser. The South American country depends on
ers, whose wages have not been rising in tandem imports for 80% of the fertiliser it consumes.
with the cost of most goods. The Russian and Brazilian leaders met just
He has done so partly in the hope of building last week at a summit meeting of the BRICS
up support among independent truck drivers (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa)
and other blocs of voters ahead of the presiden- inter-governmental political association of
tial election, which will take place in October. large emerging economies. According to Maria
The president, who is seeking to remain in office, Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian
is currently trailing far behind his main oppo- Foreign Ministry, Argentina and Iran have also
nent, former president Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, asked to join the group. “While the White House
in the polls. was thinking about what else to turn off in the
Bolsonaro has not said exactly how much world, ban or spoil, Argentina and Iran applied
diesel Brazil might purchase from Russia or on to join the BRICS,” she said earlier this week. ™

URUGUAY
ANCAP awards three exploration blocks in

Uruguay’s offshore zone to Shell and APA

URUGUAY’S national oil company (NOC) of exploration work at the three blocks over the
ANCAP said last week that Shell (UK) and APA next four years. Shell will acquire 3D seismic
(US) had won licences for three of the six blocks data from Blocks OFF-2 and OFF-7 during
included in its most recent bidding round. the initial four-year phases of its contracts, it
In a statement, ANCAP announced that it explained, while APA will drill an exploration
had awarded OFF-2, a shallow-water block, well at OFF-6 during its first four-year phase.
and OFF-7, a deepwater block, to Shell. OFF-6, APA and Shell will be joining UK-based
another deepwater block, will go to APA, for- Challenger Energy in Uruguay’s offshore zone.
merly known as Apache, it said. The only block Challenger already holds a licence for the shal-
to attract competitive bids was OFF-2, which low-water block OFF-1, which is adjacent to
drew offers from both APA and Shell, it added. Shell’s OFF-2, and has welcomed the decision
The NOC went on to say that Shell and APA of other international oil companies (IOCs) to
had pledged to carry out around $200mn worth invest in the area.

Guyanese oil has also been processed at the Mataripe refinery, formerly known as RLAM (Image: Petrobras)
Week 26 30•June•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11