Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 39 2022
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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
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