Page 11 - NorthAmOil Week 11 2022

NorthAmOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES NorthAmOil

Petroecuador’s oil trading manager says

US buyers are eyeing Ecuadorean crude

ECUADOR-US A representative of Ecuador’s national oil com- crude oil by extending an existing three-year
pany (NOC) Petroecuador told Bloomberg on contract that is scheduled to expire in Decem-
March 16 that the US government’s decision to ber 2023. The Shell arm has indicated that it is
ban imports of Russian crude had generated willing to pay a higher price, provided that it can
new interest in Ecuadorean feedstock among US take delivery at the terminus of the Heavy Crude
refiners and traders. Pipeline (OCP) system, which is capable of han-
Pablo Noboa, Petroecuador’s oil trading man- dling larger tankers, he added.
ager, reported that refiners Valero Energy and Meanwhile, he stated, Marathon is hoping
Marathon Petroleum, as well as Shell Western to start buying Ecuadorean heavy sour crude
Supply and Trading, a trading unit of Shell (UK), as early as June of this year and wants to pur-
Certain US refiners had all been seeking to buy crude from Ecuador. chase 11-22 cargoes over a period of about 11
and traders have been Teams from the NOC have been holding meet- months. Petrojam, the state-owned oil company
seeking to buy crude ings in Louisiana this week with representatives of Jamaica, is seeking a similar deal for 11 car-
from Ecuador. of these and other companies, he said in an inter- goes, he said.
view with Bloomberg. Bloomberg sought to confirm Noboa’s state-
He described these firms’ outreach to Petro- ments but was unable to obtain comments from
ecuador as a direct response to the removal Shell, Marathon or Valero. Petrojam’s general
of Russian supplies from the US market. “US manager Winston Watson said in a recent state-
refiners and traders are eager to sign mid- and ment, though, that his company was in discus-
long-term supply contracts after Russia invaded sions with Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.
Ukraine,” he told the news agency. “When oil in (NNPC) on a supply deal for 4mn barrels per year
the global market is scarce, it makes sense to try (nearly 11,000 barrel per day, or bpd) of oil. The
to secure a steady supply.” company is also “currently in dialogue with Petro-
According to Noboa, Shell Western Supply ecuador and Ecopetrol in Colombia to establish
and Trading aims to purchase more Ecuadorean term supply agreements,” Watson added.™

ENERGY TRANSITION

Range, US Well Services agree

to electric fleet extension

APPALACHIAN US Well Services (USWS), a provider of hydrau- supplied natural gas, including field gas sourced
BASIN lic fracturing services, said on March 14 that it directly from the wellhead.
had finalised a deal with Appalachian producer Electric fracking technology is becom-
Range Resources to extend an existing elec- ing increasingly popular as operators seek to
tric fleet contract that is due to expire this year. decrease emissions while still generating oper-
Under the terms of the extended contract, USWS ational efficiencies. USWS says its technology
will provide a new Nyx Clean Fleet to support offers customer fuel cost savings compared to
Range’s Appalachian completion programme conventional diesel fleets. Rapidly rising diesel
until the end of 2024 after the current contract prices are also driving increased demand for
expires in November 2022. electric frack technology. Indeed, USWS said in
The deal is the third contract between the its announcement that diesel prices and efforts to
two companies. USWS initially began provid- reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were of
ing Range with well completions services in increasing concern to its customers.
mid-2019. By last autumn, the number of fracking fleets
“US Well Services is proud to continue our that were electric or running on a combination
relationship with Range Resources,” stated of diesel and natural gas in the US had risen to
USWS’ president and CEO, Joel Broussard. over 100. This represents almost half of the coun-
“Range is not only a best-in-class E&P operator try’s working fleets and a three-fold increase
in the Marcellus, but also a strong partner for compared with 2019.
USWS,” Broussard added. Analysts have projected that electric fracking
USWS uses a fully electric, mobile well-stim- or dual fracking fleets will comprise close to 60%
ulation system that is powered by locally of active fleets by next year.™

Week 11 17•March•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11