Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 03 2020

LatAmOil VENEZUELA LatAmOil
Chevron secures 90-day extension of US sanctions waiver
THE US Treasury Department has extended Chevron’s exemption from sanctions that limit investment in the Venezuelan oil and gas indus- try for 90 days.
On January 18, the department said it had authorised the US major to continue operat- ing in Venezuela until April 22. It also said it had granted similar 90-day extensions to four other companies – the oilfield services provid- ers Weatherford International, Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes.
Chevron expressed its appreciation for the Treasury Department’s move. Ray Fohr, a spokesman for the company, said in a statement emailed to Reuters that the waiver would help Chevron continue to make positive contribu- tions in the South American country.
“Chevron is a constructive presence in Ven- ezuela, where we have been part of the local communities for nearly a century,” Fohr said. He added: “We remain focused on our base business operations and supporting the more than 8,800 people who work with us and their families. Our operations continue in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.”
As of press time, Weatherford International, Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes had not commented on the matter.
Chevron has said that it stands to lose around $2.7bn worth of assets if the sanctions regime forces it to halt work on its Venezuelan pro- jects. The company has already sustained some
losses there; in a report detailing its results in the third quarter of last year, it said it had lost about $104mn in Venezuela in the first nine months of 2019.
Reuters reported last week that it had seen internal documents from Venezuela’s national oil company (NOC) PdVSA showing that Chev- ron was scheduled to load a 1mn barrel cargo of crude in Jose, a port on the Caribbean Sea. The US company has said that this shipment will not violate the sanctions regime – and that the proceeds from the sale of this oil will be used to cover the maintenance expenses incurred by a joint venture working in Venezuela. ™
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Petropiar is one of Chevron’s two active ventures in Venezuela (Photo: PdVSA)
Equinor installs new fixed wellhead platform at Brazil’s Peregrino field
BRAZIL
NORWAY’S Equinor said last week that it had installed a new platform at the Peregrino field offshore Brazil. The new platform will help the company extend the operating life of the oilfield and expand its recoverable reserves by 273mn barrels within the framework of the Peregrino Phase II project.
Equinor has been preparing for the installa- tion of the Peregrino C platform for some time. Its Dutch contractor, Heerema Fabrication Group, completed the jacket at its Vlissingen
shipyard last autumn and loaded it onto its H-542 cargo barge for delivery to Brazil last October.
Then in November, Heerema’s H-541 cargo barge set sail from Texas, carrying the topsides to Brazil. In the same month, the living quarters module began sailing from the Norwegian port of Stord to Brazil aboard the Dutch-flagged Big- Roll Beaufort vessel.
Heerema has now completed the installation
of the platform. 
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w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 03 23•January•2020