Page 6 - LatAmOil Week 03 2020

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M E X I C O
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Pemex’s portfolio of debts currently amounts to around $99bn. The figure has dropped by around $9.5bn over the last few years, as the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been trying to help the NOC with debt refinancing deals, injections of cash and tax concessions.
Strong demand
Demand for the new securities has been strong, with investors placing offers for several times the number of bonds that were in the issue, accord- ing to El Financiero. Pemex has already received $25bn worth of bids, the newspaper reported.
Guido Chamorro, an emerging markets fund manager for Pictet Asset Management, said investors were showing an “insatiable” appetite for the new Pemex securities. Potential buyers see Pemex as a safe bet because they are confi- dent that Mexico’s government will always be willing to rescue the NOC, Chamorro said.
He stressed, though, that investing in Pemex did carry certain risks. The company is already the biggest issuer of corporate debt in the world and “will now extend its lead,” he explained.
Anti-theft measures
In related news, Pemex is reportedly gearing up to install concrete coverings over 175km of its pipeline network this year in a bid to discourage fuel theft.
The NOC said it would use the coverings to
seal off 149km of pipelines built to carry natu- ral gas, gasoline, diesel and other fuels that are especially vulnerable to unauthorised tapping. It also said it intended to cover another 26km of pipe but did not comment further.
At present, Pemex has only 51.5km of its pipeline network covered with concrete, so the new programme will bring that figure up to 226.5km. Mexican authorities will also take other steps to prevent theft, such as restricting the sale of valves that are widely used to siphon fuel out of pipes. They will also work to improve the operational capacity of a control centre at Pemex’s home base in Mexico City so that the NOC can monitor pipeline breaches more closely and respond to theft more quickly.”™
Investors are reportedly trying to load up on Pemex’s new bonds (Photo: Informador)
COLOMBIA
GeoPark boosts Colombia assets through Amerisur acquisition
GEOPARK, a New York-listed firm focused on Latin American upstream projects, has wrapped up its previously announced acquisi- tion of Amerisur Resources. The deal adds sig- nificant new assets in Colombia to the US firm’s portfolio.
In a statement, the company said it had acquired the entire issued share capital of Amer- isur for around US$314mn. It explained that it was funding the transaction through the issu- ance of $350mn worth of 5.5% senior notes that will come due in 2027.
Through this acquisition, GeoPark will acquire stakes in 13 new blocks in Colombia. These blocks include 12 operated sites in the Putumayo basin and the non-operated CPO-5 block, located in the Llanos basin. CPO-5 is operated by ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), a state-controlled Indian firm.
The deal will also allow GeoPark to access a
crude oil export pipeline that runs from Colom-
bia to Ecuador, known as the Oleoducto Bina-
cional Amerisur. 
The deal adds 13 Amerisur blocks to GeoPark’s portfolio (Image: GeoPark)
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