Page 12 - LatAmOil Week 21 2021

LatAmOil CHILE LatAmOil

Chile seeks to compete

with Europe on hydrogen

ENERGY CHILEAN green hydrogen could cost less than through carbon capture and storage (CCS).
TRANSITION $1.3per kg by 2025, the country’s Minister of While the cost of CCS also still needs to be
Energy and Mining, Juan Carlos Jobet, said at shown to be viable, blue hydrogen is cheaper
Reuters Events: Hydrogen 2021 on May 20. than green hydrogen, but cleaner than grey
“We are updating those numbers and we hydrogen, which is produced from fossil fuels
think we are going to be below those numbers with no decarbonisation component. Grey
by 2025,” Jobet said. He attributed the decline to hydrogen has been ruled out as having any kind
expectations of lower technology costs rather of role to play in the energy transition.
than improved potential of the renewable ener- Jobet said last week that Chile’s hydrogen
gies that would be used to produce the hydrogen. development would come in three waves. The
Green hydrogen is produced using renewable first would involve exporting green ammonia,
energy sources such as solar and wind. While it with the second potentially involving synthetic
is considered to be the cleanest form of hydro- fuels and the third entailing shipments of liquid
gen, it is also the most costly, at $3-8 per kg as of green hydrogen.
December. However, Chile’s extensive renewable Chile could export to Asia, the US and
resources mean that the country expects to have Europe, Jobet said.
the lowest green hydrogen costs in the world by Speaking separately to BNAmericas this
2030. week, he said there had been “huge” interest
If the latest numbers cited by Jobet are accu- in Chile’s hydrogen industry since the country
rate, this would put the costs of green hydrogen unveiled its hydrogen strategy in November
from Chile below those of blue hydrogen pro- 2020. At the time, Chile had identified around 20
duced in Europe, according to market intelli- green hydrogen and related projects to develop,
gence provider ICIS. Blue hydrogen is produced and this has now been increased to almost 40
using fossil fuels but is decarbonised, for example projects, Jobet said.™

NEWS IN BRIEF

UPSTREAM the pipelines will take place at Subsea 7’s informs that it is launching the RefTOP
spoolbase at Ubu in the state of Vitória and - World Class Refining programme with
Subsea 7 awarded contract offshore operations are scheduled to be the objective of being among the best oil
executed in 2023 and 2024, using Subsea 7’s
refining companies in the world. RefTOP
offshore Brazil fleet of reeled rigid pipelay vessels. consists of a set of initiatives that seek to
Marcelo Xavier, Vice-President Brazil
implement improvements to increase the
Subsea 7 today announced the award of a said: “This contract builds on our strong, efficiency and operational performance of
very large(1) contract by Petrobras for the collaborative relationship with Petrobras and the refineries that are not in the divestment
development of the Mero-3 field located track record of executing major EPCI projects portfolio - Presidente Bernardes Refinery
approximately 200 kilometres off the coast globally. Subsea 7 looks forward to working (RPBC), Duque de Caxias Refinery (REDUC),
of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at 2,200 closely with Petrobras to successfully deliver Capuava Refinery (RECAP), Paulinia Refinery
metres water depth in the pre-salt Santos the project.” (REPLAN), and Henrique Lage Refinery
basin. (1)Subsea 7 defines a very large contract as (REVAP) - and to position Petrobras more
The contract scope includes engineering, being between $500 and $750mn. competitively in the opening of the oil refining
fabrication, installation and pre- SUBSEA 7, May 24, 2021 market in the country. The company evaluated
commissioning of 80 kilometres of rigid world benchmarks of the main refining
risers and flowlines for the steel lazy wave indicators to define the program’s objectives.
production system, 60 kilometres of flexible DOWNSTREAM RefTOP foresees initiatives to increase the
service lines, 50 kilometres of umbilicals refineries’ energy performance, making better
and associated infrastructure, as well as Petrobras on RefTOP use of inputs such as natural gas, electricity,
installation of FPSO mooring lines and hook- and steam in their own operations.
up. refining programme The programme will promote the intensive
Project management and engineering will use of digital technologies, automation and
commence immediately at Subsea 7’s offices Petróleo Brasileiro – Petrobras, following robotization in Petrobras’ refineries. One
in Rio de Janeiro and Paris. Fabrication of up on the release disclosed on 09/18/2020, of the examples of digital technologies that

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