Page 15 - LatAmOil Week 41

LatAmOil BRAZIL LatAmOil

LNG delivered to Barcarena can be regasified The statement on the signing of Hygo’s MoU
and piped to local thermal power plants (TPPs), with GdP follows the news that Brazil’s national
the company added. Some of the gas is likely to oil company (NOC) Petrobras has rejected
go to Hygo’s 605-MW station in Pará State. This Golar’s bid for access to an underutilised LNG
TPP, which secured a 25-year power purchase import facility in Bahia State. Petrobras said ear-
agreement (PPA) earlier this week, can consume lier in October that it had declined to accept a
the equivalent of 600,000 tonnes per year (tpy) Golar subsidiary’s offer to lease the Bahia LNG
of LNG, Golar said. terminal, citing concerns about excessive risk.
In a separate statement, the company The NOC’s decision appears to have been
reported that Hygo had finalised the PPA on the prompted by reports of Golar CEO Eduardo
same day that it had agreed to terminate an MoU Antonello’s involvement in bribery charges.
signed in July with Norsk Hydro (Norway). That Golar announced on October 12 that Antonello
document outlined plans for LNG deliveries to was stepping down and would be replaced by
Alunorte, Norsk Hydro’s aluminium refinery in Paul Hanrahan, the former president and CEO
Barcarena. of US-based AES Corp. ™

ARGENTINA
IAE: Argentina’s gas output sank in August

ARGENTINA saw natural gas production drop day. Meanwhile, the US super-major ExxonMo-
by 14.1% in August to reach 4.38bn cubic feet bil produced 42 mmcf (1.19 mcm) per day of gas
(124mn cubic metres) per day, according to the from its Vaca Muerta fields in August.
latest monthly report from the state-run Argen- Total and ExxonMobil, along with Chevron
tine Energy Institute (IAE). (US) and a subsidiary of BP (US), are among the
Newly released IAE data show that gas out- international oil companies (IOCs) that have
put levels were down in every basin across the invested in Vaca Muerta, which is one of the
country in the month of August. Neuquén, largest shale formations in the world. The for-
Argentina’s largest gas-producing province, saw mation is around the size of Belgium and con-
production fall to 2.72 bcf (77.03 mcm) per day tains around 308 trillion cubic feet (8.72 trillion
in August, down from 3.23 bcf (91.47 mcm) cubic metres) of shale gas, according to the US
per day in the same month of last year. In July, Energy Information Administration (EIA).
by contrast, fields in Neuquén yielded 2.79 bcf Production levels have fallen off in recent
(79.01 mcm) per day. months as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-
The province is home to the majority of the 19) pandemic. In April, for example, YPF cut
Vaca Muerta shale formation, which produced output at its key oil play in Vaca Muerta, on the
some 1.14 bcf (32.28 mcm) per day in August, grounds that demand had fallen off during the
down from 1.26 bcf (35.68 mcm) per day in the lockdown imposed to try to contain the out-
same month of last year. The formation’s output break. ™
was more or less flat compared to July.
The largest producers working in Vaca
Muerta in August were the Argentinian inde-
pendent Tecpetrol, which produced 463 mil-
lion cubic feet (13.11 mcm) per day, followed
by state-run oil firm YPF with 258 mmcf (7.31
mcm) per day and the local subsidiary of French
oil major Total with 180 mmcf (5.1 mcm) per

ECUADOR
Quito eyes new oil-backed loan from China

ECUADOR is hoping to sign a new US$1.4bn existing debts and encourage competition
oil-backed loan agreement with China next among Chinese oil traders, Ortiz told local news
month, according to the South American coun- agencies last week. China Development Bank
try’s Minister of Energy and Non-Renewable (CDB) will lead the syndicate that is putting
Natural Resources René Ortiz. together the loan, which will also be backed by a
The sovereign credit deal aims to restructure German financial institution, he said.

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