Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 17 2022

LatAmOil VENEZUEL A LatAmOil

Ryan Berg, the head of the Future of Venezuela Medina, the head of Citgo’s opposition-con-
Initiative at the Center for Strategic and Interna- trolled ad hoc board of directors, said he
tional Studies (CSIS) in Washington, said earlier expected Washington to extend the special
this week that he believed that meeting might operating licence that exempts the US major
serve as a foundation for additional talks in the Chevron from restrictions on investment in the
near future, perhaps in Trinidad and Tobago. Venezuelan oil sector.
It is not clear whether the opposition – which Medina was quoted by Reuters as saying
plays a key role in PdVSA’s operations, owing to during a virtual event that Chevron and the
its de facto control of the NOC’s most impor- US-based oilfield service providers (OSPs) that
tant foreign asset, the US-based refiner Citgo have maintained a token presence in the South
– would agree to participate in such talks, were American state – Baker Hughes, Halliburton,
they to take place. Berg said Guaido’s allies might Schlumberger and Weatherford International –
be wary of Trinidad and Tobago, as they have were likely to be granted more time.
accused Port of Spain of mistreating the Vene- “I think it is very likely that Chevron and
zuelan migrants found in its territorial waters. service companies will have their licenses
For his part, Guaido’s energy advisor extended,” he said.
remarked: “Go ahead and meet, but the other He did not offer any evidence to support his
thing [the opposition] can do is upset the table assertion, though he did note that Chevron had
and assume a harder stance.” reportedly asked for a two-year extension rather
than the usual three- or six-month extension. As
Sanctions waivers of press time, none of the companies in question
Both were speaking several days after Horacio had commented on the matter. ™

GUYANA
ExxonMobil makes 3 new finds at Stabroek

US-BASED ExxonMobil said on April 26 that it ExxonMobil did not specify whether it had
had raised its recoverable resource estimate for found gaseous or liquid hydrocarbons in any
the Stabroek block offshore Guyana to nearly of the wells. (According to a map published by
11bn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) after making Kaieteur News, Lukanani-1 appears to be in the
three additional discoveries in the south-eastern vicinity of Pluma, a section of the block that is
section of its licence area. believed to hold gas as well as oil.)
In a statement, the super-major reported that The company went on to say that it had
it had found hydrocarbons in the Barreleye-1, drilled Barreleye-1, Lukanani-1 and Patwa-1 in
Lukanani-1 and Patwa-1 exploration wells. water depths of 1,170 metres, 1,240 metres and
Barreleye-1 encountered around 70 metres of 1,925 metres of water respectively. Additionally,
hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone, it noted, while it stated that drilling operations were “ongoing”
Lukanani-1 and Patwa-1 encountered about 35 at Lukanani-1 and Barreleye-1.
metres and 33 metres of hydrocarbon-bearing The statement did not reveal the likely size of
sandstone respectively. the three new fields.

The new discoveries are in the south-eastern section of the Stabroek block (Image: Hess)

Week 17 28•April•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9