Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 17 2022
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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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