Page 6 - LatAmOil Week 43 2019

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 “I would like to highlight some of the actions that have allowed us to increase crude oil pro- duction. We drilled and developed wells in the productive area of shallow waters, we imme- diately tackled operational problems,” he said. “Finally, we managed to obtain early production from new onshore fields.”
Later on October 29, Bloomberg reported that the NOC’s good news had given a boost to Mexican corporate credit. This was appar- ent in the fact that yields on Pemex bonds due to mature in 2028 dropped to 5.6%, sinking by about 10 basis points. The securities were issued at an interest rate of 5.35%.
This is a positive development, given that the Fitch agency reduced the company’s rating to junk status in June – and that industry observ- ers warned afterwards that other ratings agen- cies were likely to follow suit, in light of Pemex’s track record of falling production and swelling debt portfolio.
The NOC has stepped back from the brink with the help of the Mexican government, which helped it refinance $20.1bn worth of outstand- ing obligations in September. The assistance package included a combination of state fund- ing, debt swaps and new security issues worth a total of $5bn.™
Sempra, Mitsui sign MoU covering expansion of Energia Costa Azul terminal
SEMPRA Energy announced on October 28 that it had entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japan’s Mitsui & Co. The non-binding agreement covers the future expansion of the Energía Costa Azul LNG pro- ject in Mexico, as well as Mitsui’s participation in the second phase of Sempra’s Cameron LNG project.
In the document, Sempra and Mitsui pledged to help each other develop LNG export capacity at an existing facility on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. The facility in question is the Energía Costa Azul import terminal, which is being developed in partnership with Sempra’s Mexican subsidiary, IEnova.
Phase 1 of the project includes one liquefac- tion train with an export capacity of roughly 2.4mn tonnes per year (tpy). A future expansion of the terminal would include additional trains with an anticipated export capacity of around 12mn tpy in total.
The agreement also calls for Mitsui to buy up to 1mn tpy of LNG from the expanded Energía Costa Azul terminal. Additionally, it provides for the Japanese company to buy into the project
as an equity participant.
Sempra and Mitsui entered into a heads of
agreement (HoA) in November 2018 and are currently finalising a definitive 20-year LNG sales and purchase agreement (SPA) for the potential purchase of 800,000 tpy of LNG from Phase 1 at Energía Costa Azul.
Meanwhile, the Japanese company is already part of the consortium developing the first phase of Cameron LNG in Louisiana, which recently entered service and consists of three trains. Under the MoU, the two companies will help each other build two more trains as part of a sec- ond-phase expansion.
Train 1 at Cameron LNG began commer- cial operations in August. Trains 2 and 3 are expected to commence LNG production in the first quarter and second quarters of 2020 respectively.
Mitsui is already an equity participant in the development company for both phases of Cameron LNG. Under the newly signed MoU, it could become the offtaker for up to one-third of the available capacity from Cameron LNG’s second phase.
Mitsui will buy up to 1mn tpy of LNG from the expanded Costa Azul terminal (Image: CHEC Construction)
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 43 31•October•2019