Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 39 2022

LatAmOil BRAZIL LatAmOil

The company “has turned into a huge dairy cow, any such approaches.
and it won’t last,” he told Bloomberg. “It’s walk- Petrobras kicked off its refinery privatisation
ing blindfolded off a cliff.” campaign in 2021 by finalising the sale of the
Prates did not say exactly how Lula might Landulpho Alves Refinery (RLAM), located in
accomplish these goals. Bahia State, to a subsidiary of Mubadala Capital
The Brazilian presidential candidate has (UAE/Abu Dhabi) for $1.8bn.
made it clear that he does not favour Petro- The plant, now known as the Mataripe refin-
bras’ ongoing campaign to privatise eight of ery, is now operated by Acelen, a Mubadala affil-
its 13 refineries in order to raise cash and free iate. Acelen has succeeded in raising capacity
up resources for upstream development. He utilisation levels at the plant from about 70% to
has said instead that the state-owned company nearly 100%.
ought to retain control over the oil-processing Since the RLAM deal, Petrobras has signed
sector. And according to a recent Reuters report, three additional refinery sales agreements. One
some of the candidate’s advisors have suggested is with the Forbes & Manhattan bank of Canada
buying back the refineries or securing the right for the 6,000 barrel per day Unidade de Indus-
to appoint directors to the newly independent trializacao de Xisto (SIX) plant in Parana State,
plants’ boards. and another is with the Brazilian fuel distributor
Sources with knowledge of the matter told Atem for the 46,000 bpd Refinaria Isaac Sabba
the news agency that the suggestion was still (REMAN) plant in Amazonas State.
purely theoretical, as the campaign had not con- The third is with the Grepar Participações
tacted any privatised refineries. They also said fund for the 8,000 bpd Refinaria Lubrificantes
they expected the investors that have bought e Derivados do Nordeste (LUBNOR) plant in
Petrobras’ oil-processing plants thus far to rebuff Ceara State. ™

ARGENTINA
Neuquen governor sees Vaca Muerta

investments hitting record high in 2022

OMAR Gutierrez, the governor of Argentina’s levels are rising at Vaca Muerta fields even in
Neuquen province, said on September 28 that he advance of the pipeline’s completion. The for-
expected investments in the Vaca Muerta shale mation is due to see unconventional oil output
formation to reach a record high of $5.5bn in hit 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the end of
2022. 2022, while unconventional gas yields will reach
Speaking at the Rio Oil & Gas conference, 90 mcm per day, he stated.
Gutierrez said that Vaca Muerta was on track He went on to say that Argentina had a strong
to draw even more investments in 2023, putting incentive to push production levels up even fur-
forward a figure of $7bn. He added, though, ther in light of Europe’s gas supply crisis, saying
that full development of the shale formation that current geopolitical conditions offered an
was likely to cost $200bn and pointed out that opportunity.
Argentina was still far short of that figure. Argentina has more gas than it needs, he said,
“Investments so far add up to about $30bn,” noting that Vaca Muerta was believed to hold
he remarked. 300 trillion cubic feet (8.5 trillion cubic metres)
One of the reasons why investment levels of gas, while domestic consumption amounts to
are slated to rise, he added, is that Argentina just 1.5-1.6 tcf (42.48-45.31bn cubic metres) per
is set to start construction on the first phase of year.
the Nestor Kirchner pipeline, which will pump The country can take advantage of such
gas from Vaca Muerta to key demand centres in opportunities by forming more partnerships of
Argentina. This project will help eliminate some the type recently set up between the national oil
of the logistical bottlenecks that have made company (NOC) YPF and Malaysia’s Petronas,
international oil companies (IOCs) reluctant to he suggested.
make large-scale commitments, he said. “Projects such as this in Vaca Muerta will
The governor was referring to a $1.5bn plan provide the route for Argentina to become
to build a pipeline from Tratayen, a site in Neu- self-sufficient in oil and gas,” he said, referring
quen Province, to Salliquelo, a town in Buenos to the signing of a memorandum of understand-
Aires Province. This link will have a capacity of ing (MoU) that outlined plans for co-operation
24mn cubic metres per day. in the construction of a 600-km pipeline and an
Meanwhile, Gutierrez noted, production LNG terminal. ™

Week 39 28•September•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P13