Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 17 2022

LatAmOil ARGENTINA LatAmOil

Fernández also stated that he expected Argen- from Vaca Muerta fields to key demand centres
tina’s national oil company (NOC) YPF to play in Argentina. Vaca Muerta is one of the larg-
a crucial role in the construction of the Néstor est shale basins in the world. The formation is
Kirchner pipeline. YPF must continue its around the size of Belgium and contains around
exploration and production activities, which 308 trillion cubic feet (8.722 trillion cubic
are essential for keeping the pipeline filled to metres) of shale gas, according to the US Energy
capacity, while also searching for new sources of Information Administration (EIA). ™
hydrocarbons in Argentina, he said.
The president went on to praise YPF for its
improvements in performance and mentioned
that the company anticipated an 8% increase in
production this year. This would be the largest
organic growth rate achieved in the last 20 years,
he said.
YPF chairman Pablo González was present
at the launch ceremony for the pipeline, along
with Argentina’s federal Energy Secretary Darío
Martínez, Cabinet Chief Juan Manzur and
Governors Omar Gutiérrez of Neuquén, Axel
Kicillof of Buenos Aires and Sergio Ziliotto of
La Pampa.
When finished, the conduit will pump gas Buenos Aires backs the gas pipeline (Image: Twitter/@alferdez)

PERU
Petroperú revises price tag for Talara

refinery modernisation project upward

PETROPERÚ, the national oil company (NOC) construction of several new facilities – includ-
of Peru, is once again making upward revisions ing a flexicoking unit, the first of its kind in Latin
to its estimate of the total cost of modernising America.
the Talara oil refinery. Petroperú marked the completion of work on
Humberto Campodonico, the president of the flexicoking facility and the rest of the plant,
Petroperú, said on April 22 that the price tag for now known as the New Talara Refinery (NRT),
the project will be higher than anticipated. He earlier this month in a ceremony attended by
did not say what the final bill would be or dis- Campodonico and Peruvian President Pedro
close the reason for the increase. Castillo. As a result of the upgrade, the facility’s
The last time the NOC commented publicly capacity has risen from 62,000 barrels per day by
on the matter, it stated that the budget for the 50% to 95,000 bpd.
project had been set at $5bn. The project has been running far behind
Many capital projects have seen prices rise schedule, as the NOC had previously said that
since the beginning of 2021. Some of these it hoped to launch NRT in 2017. ™
increases have accompanied the global eco-
nomic recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-
19) pandemic, which has driven up the price of
steel and other basic materials, while others have
stemmed from widespread supply chain disrup-
tions. More recently, they have followed the rise
in energy prices that occurred in response to
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Talara is Peru’s second largest oil-processing
plant. The refinery is located 1,185 km away
from Lima, the capital city, on the Pacific coast
in the far north of the country. It still uses equip-
ment that was installed in the 1950s by the US
International Petroleum Company. As such,
Petroperú has been eager to move forward with
modernisation efforts, which encompass the The cost of upgrading the Talara refinery will be at least $5bn (Photo: Petroperú)

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