Page 12 - LatAmOil Week 15 2020
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G U Y A N A
LatAmOil
Guyana, one of Latin America’s poorest coun- tries and one with no experience of oil produc- tion, has seen its fortunes turn around after assigning offshore sites to companies such as ExxonMobil. The US-based super-major formed a consortium with China National
Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and the US inde- pendent Hess in 1999.
Since then, the partners have discovered more than a dozen fields at Stabroek. These fields are believed to contain more than 8bn barrels of crude oil.
Pandemic reportedly delaying completion of Peregrino Platform C
BRAZIL
NORWAY’S Equinor is reportedly experiencing delays as it attempts to install a third platform at the Peregrino field offshore Brazil.
Sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters earlier this week that construction work on Platform C was running about two months behind schedule. The company has not been able to meet all of its deadlines because of logistical difficulties related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
They explained that the delays had occurred because Equinor has introduced social distanc- ing policies that make certain construction tasks difficult to carry out. As a result, they said, the company has made the decision to postpone some labour-intensive operations at Peregrino. This move will probably put the deadline for connecting the new platform to an existing floating production, storage and off-loading (FPSO) vessel back by two months, one source said.
As of press time, Equinor had not directly confirmed the Reuters report. Erik Haaland, a spokesman for the company, told the news agency that he was not yet in a position to say exactly how the pandemic would affect the time- line for work at the Brazilian field. He acknowl- edged that Equinor had changed its staffing arrangements in order to guard the safety of its employees and contractors but stressed that offshore completion activities had not come to a halt.
The Norwegian company began installing
ARGENTINA
Platform C at Peregrino last year. The new plat- form is designed to help extend the operating life of the oilfield and to expand its recoverable reserves by 273mn barrels within the framework of the Peregrino Phase II project.
Equity in Peregrino is divided between Equinor, the operator, with 60%, and the state- owned Chinese company Sinochem, with 40%. The field straddles two licence areas in the Cam- pos Basin, BM-C-7 and BM-C-47. It lies about 85 km from the coast in 100-metre-deep water.
Equinor and Sinochem have been using two fixed wellhead platforms and an FPSO vessel to develop the Peregrino field. The cost of installing the third fixed wellhead platform is set to reach $3.5bn.
YPF gets green light for JV with Equinor
Argentina’s Energy Secretariat has authorised the national oil company (NOC) YPF to set up a joint venture with Norway’s Equinor for an off- shore exploration project.
In a statement, the secretariat said it had granted YPF permission to cede part of its 100%
stake in CAN-100, a 15,000-square km licence
area in the North Argentinian Basin, to Equinor.
Peregrino lies offshore in the Campos Basin (Image: Equinor)
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 15 16•April•2020
