Page 6 - LatAmOil Week 26 2022

LatAmOil MEXICO LatAmOil

CNH investigates Pemex following reports

of excessive flaring at Quesqui field in 2019

MEXICO’S state oil and gas regulator, the that can happen” in light of Mexico’s depend-
National Hydrocarbon Commission (CNH), ence on imported natural gas and LNG, saying
is investigating reports that the national oil it made no sense “to be buying gas and having
company (NOC) Pemex engaged in excessive to burn it here, with the contamination that it
associated gas flaring at the Quesqui oilfield implies.”
in Tabasco State in 2019, as well as committing Like many other operators, Pemex has often
other violations at another field. burned off associated gas – that is, gas that
CNH representatives paid an unannounced is trapped between seams of carbonate rock
visit to the Quesqui field last week with the underground within crude oil reservoirs – to
intention of determining whether Pemex had get it out of the way.
violated regulations governing gas flaring or When this gas rises to the surface during oil
went beyond the limits of its development plan. production, it cannot be used unless there is
They were reportedly looking into the incident infrastructure in place to separate, process and
in question, as well as the company’s overall store it. However, it has come under pressure
practices at Quesqui. The field is one of Pemex’s to curb this practice, as it contributes to green-
most important discoveries over the last three house gas (GHG) emissions. ™
decades, containing 500mn barrels of oil equiv-
alent (boe) in proven, probable and possible
reserves.
This is not the first time that Pemex has come
under fire for allegedly engaging in practices that
could have detrimental effects on the environ-
ment, health and safety of nearby communities.
Just last month, CNH fined Pemex for violating
its developmental plan at the Ixachi field in the
neighbouring state of Veracruz by engaging in
excessive gas flaring.
Scientists have found that Pemex has flared
record amounts of gas over the past year at a
growing number of fields. This increase has
occurred despite the promise of Mexican Pres-
ident Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has
promised to curb gas flaring. Lopez Obrador has
criticised flaring as “the most irrational thing Quesqui is a large field located off the coast of Tabasco state (Image: Pemex)

AMLO acknowledges higher

costs for Olmeca refinery

MEXICAN President Andres Manuel Lopez But on June 24, Lopez Obrador told reporters at
Obrador has conceded that the final bill for the his daily press conference that he expected costs
construction of the Olmeca refinery is likely to to reach $11-12bn.
be considerably higher than the most recent “There has been an increase,” he said.
government estimates. He downplayed the seriousness of the higher
Energy Minister Rocio Nahle, one of the expense, saying that Mexico’s national oil com-
president’s staunchest political allies, has pany (NOC) Pemex had obtained approval from
insisted as recently as early May that the project’s its board of directors before budgeting more
price tag would top out at $9.8bn, 22.5% above money for the project, formerly known as Dos
the government’s original cost estimate of $8bn. Bocas.

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 26 30•June•2022