Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 41 2022

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Eneva is interested in buying IBV’s minority as anticipated.
stakes and has confirmed that it is in the prelim- Eneva did not divulge any details of its offer
inary evaluation phase for such an acquisition, to acquire IBV’s stakes in the offshore Brazilian
epbr said. blocks. Petrobras has said it expects to bring
However, the deal has yet to be finalised, not Agulinha and Cavala on stream in 2026 after
least since VOVL Ltd, an Indian firm that indi- installing two floating production, storage and
rectly holds a 50% stake in IBV, is currently in off-loading (FPSOs) there. The sites are antic-
the process of reorganisation in the bankruptcy ipated to yield a combined 120,000 barrels per
court in Mumbai. day (bpd) of crude oil and 8mn cubic metres per
Eneva said in a statement that it had made day of natural gas.
a non-binding proposal that was contingent According to the statement, Eneva is
on the outcome of these proceedings and on a also considering acquiring a stake directly
“legal, financial and technical audit of the assets, in BM-SEAL-11, another Sergipe-Alagoas
the satisfactory negotiation of a purchase and block that lies in deeper water than Cavala or
sale agreement and the fulfilment of all condi- Agulinha. The company did not reveal any
tions precedent.” details about its interest in BM-SEAL-11, which
It also stressed the preliminary nature of has been licensed to Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd
its offer for IBV, saying that it might still make (BPCL), another Indian operator.
changes to its proposal and that there was no Eneva is not currently involved in any
guarantee that the negotiations would proceed upstream projects. ™

ECUADOR
Ecuador expects to launch offshore gas

licensing round in 2024, minister says

ECUADOR’S government is drawing up plans awarded to IOCs within the framework of the
for an offshore licensing round for natural gas Intracampos licensing rounds, which are cur-
blocks in the Gulf of Guayaquil, Energy Minister rently in their second stage.
Xavier Vera said earlier this week. As of May 2022, Ecuador was extracting
Vera told Reuters in an interview that Quito around 495,000 bpd of oil. Output levels have
would probably stage auctions for the blocks in fluctuated this year as a result of strikes and
2024, after it wraps up the bidding process for a other disruptions.
group of onshore licence areas next year. He also Demand for Ecuadorean crude has been ris-
said he expected to authorise a proposal for the ing among US and European refiners since the
offshore licensing round in the near future, once beginning of the year. Many of these buyers see
ministry officials have finished demarcating the the Ecuadorean barrels as a substitute (or par-
blocks that will be offered to investors. tial substitute) for Russian oil, which they can no
The minister did not identify any of the areas longer obtain in the usual quantities due to the
that might be included in the offshore auctions. sanctions imposed in response to the invasion
He did state, though, that the Energy Ministry of Ukraine. ™
would be seeking bids from international oil
companies (IOCs) interested in development of
natural gas resources in the Bay of Guayaquil.
Potential investors will be able to bid for produc-
tion-sharing contracts (PSCs), he said.
He went on to say that his ministry was pre-
paring for future exploration projects and efforts
to increase oil and gas production by looking
into the availability of drilling rigs and other
equipment. The country must be able to secure
access to the specialised equipment needed to
facilitate exploration and development, he said.
Reuters noted that Ecuador has announced
plans to increase its crude oil output to 750,000
barrels per day (bpd) by 2025. Officials in Quito
expect a large portion of the additional barrels
to come from the onshore fields that are being Quito is currently auctioning onshore blocks (Image: Gov’t of

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