Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 16 2021

LatAmOil CURAÇAO LatAmOil

The state-owned company is currently in nego-
tiations with a consortium known as Curaçao
Oil Refinery Complex (CORC) on the sale of the
plant and associated assets.
The parties began talks earlier this year with
the aim of striking a deal before March 19, the
date of Curaçao’s parliamentary elections, but
they did not succeed. They have continued dis-
cussions, however, despite the expiration of the
memorandum of understanding (MoU) that
gave CORC the exclusive right to negotiate for
the right to operate the Isla refinery.
CORC is the fourth firm that has sought The Bullen Bay terminal is part of the Isla refinery complex (Photo: RdK)
to acquire the oil-processing plant, which has
a design capacity of 335,000 barrels per day (CRU), was not supplying steam and partly
(bpd). RdK has also held negotiations with because US sanctions prevented its then-op-
China’s Guangdong Zhenrong Energy (GZE), erator, the Venezuelan national oil company
Saudi Arabia’s Motiva and the Klesch Group, a (NOC) PdVSA, from delivering feedstock.
privately held international industrial commod- PdVSA began operating the Isla refinery and
ities firm. associated facilities under a rental agreement
The Isla refinery has been idle since 2019. first signed in 1985 and later renewed multiple
This is partly because its associated utilities times. RdK allowed the latest version of that
division, known as Curaçao Refinery Utilities contract to expire at the end of 2019. ™

GUYANA
Frontera to lend CGX $19mn to

cover Guyana project expenses

CANADA’S Frontera Energy has arranged to
lend $19mn to its partner CGX Energy, also
based in Canada, to help the latter company
cover its share of costs related to several projects
in Guyana.
In a statement dated April 16, Frontera said
that the joint venture partners had entered into
a term sheet for the loan deal. CGX will use the
funds “to continue to finance its share of costs
related to the Corentyne, Demerara and Ber-
bice blocks, the Berbice Deepwater Port and
other budgeted costs as agreed to by Frontera,”
it explained.
CGX will be able to draw down tranches of
the loan funds until October 31 or until CGX
entered into a transaction that would allow it to
repay the credit, whichever comes earlier, the
company stated. It also reported that CGX had
agreed to use all of its assets as collateral for the
deal.
Frontera then went on to say that the loan Frontera and CGX will drill the Kawa-1 well in H2-2021 (Photo: CGX Energy)
would carry an annual interest rate of 9.7%, pay-
able on a monthly basis and in cash, and would stock in CGX at a rate of $0.712 per share, pro-
have to be repaid by June 30, 2022. It noted that vided that the TSX Venture Exchange (TXSV)
it did have the option to extend the deadline but green-lighted such a move.
pointed out that the interest rate would rise to Orlando Cabrales, the CEO of Frontera,
15% if it did so. said that he expected the loan deal to help the
Additionally, it said it would have the option partners move forward with their projects in
to convert all or part of the credit into common Guyana.

Week 16 22•April•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7