Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 07 2020
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LatAmOil COLOMBIA LatAmOil
is makes it a “highly cost-e ective and relia- ble option” for producers in the Llanos Basin, it commented.
Ocensa has been in operation since 1998. It is operated and controlled by CENIT Transporte y Logistica de Hidrocarburos (CENIT). e latter, which focuses solely on midstream operations, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the national oil company (NOC) Ecopetrol.
Adil Rahmathulla, a managing partner at I Squared Capital, said the acquisition would complement the rest of the company’s portfolio. “I Squared Capital has built a strong franchise across Latin America, with more than $1.5bn
invested in the power generation, transmission and midstream sectors,” he said.
The firm’s investment in the Colombian pipeline “reinforces our strategy to expand our footprint into high-growth emerging markets with positive business environments and insti- tutional frameworks,” he added.
e deal will provide a welcome boost to the South American state, which has been trying to drum up new interest in its slow-moving oil and gas sector. Colombia’s government held two rounds of oil and gas auctions in 2019, and each of these may bring in at least $500mn in invest- ment.
VENEZUELA
Venezuela sending more fuel to Cuba
VENEZUELA’S national oil company (NOC) PdVSA has stepped up tanker shipments to Cuba in a bid to alleviate shortages of re ned fuels in the latter country.
As one ship supervisor working at a port o of Venezuela’s western coast told Reuters on Feb- ruary 17, the uptick is noticeable. “ ere [have been] more vessels setting sail to Cuba [from Venezuela] in the past two weeks,” said the supervisor. “ ey are going in and out very fast.”
According to press reports, PdVSA dis- patched no less than six cargoes of crude oil and petroleum products to Cuba in the rst half of February. Most of these cargoes were trans- ported in ships owned by a subsidiary of PdVSA, and delivery volumes averaged 173,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to PdVSA documents and Re nitiv Eikon data cited by Reuters.
is represents a reversal on the month of January, when Venezuelan exports to Cuba averaged 56,600 bpd, the lowest gure recorded since the middle of 2019. Cuba will be receiving more oil and fuel from Venezuela in the near term, Reuters said. PdVSA is set to send at least two more cargoes to the island state before the end of the month, it explained.
e Venezuelan company typically follows the government’s policy of providing political, logistical and economic support to Cuba. But it is not always able to o er extensive help, partly because of the sanctions that the US government
has imposed on Venezuela’s oil industry over the last year and partly because of long-standing US restrictions on trade with Cuba.
In the meantime, Cuba has been suffer- ing fuel shortages. It has tried to mitigate the problem by rationing gasoline and diesel and diverting other petroleum products to the pow- er-generating sector rather than serving indus- trial consumers. Additionally, it has taken steps such as ordering a cement factory to burn old tyres in order to generate power and reduce the consumption of re ned fuels.
Cuban lling stations are running short of fuel (Photo: Babalu)
Caracas backs OPEC output proposal
VENEZUELA recently declared its support for an advisory panel’s recommendation that OPEC and its allies reduce crude oil output by 600,000 barrels per day (bpd).
“With this support for the additional
production adjustment, Venezuela rea rms its
policy of achieving stability in the international hydrocarbons market,” Venezuela’s oil ministry
and state oil company PdVSA said in a joint statement.
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