Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 15 2021

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Movementu Futuro Korsou (MFK), the opposi- CORC is the fourth firm that has sought
tion party that won the largest number of seats to acquire the Isla refinery, which has a design
in last month’s election, has agreed to set up a capacity of 335,000 barrels per day (bpd). The
coalition government with the conservative Par- first was Guangdong Zhenrong Energy (GZE),
tido Nashonal di Pueblo (PNP). which offered $5.5bn for the plant and other
The new administration, which is due to take associated assets, including the Bullen Bay
office in May, has expressed support for plans to terminal. However, RdK’s talks with the state-
sign a deal with CORC for the refinery. It views owned Chinese firm collapsed in 2018 amid
the proposed deal as crucial for the country’s allegations of corruption.
economy, which has suffered over the last year The second potential investor was Saudi Ara-
because of the drop in tourism that followed the bia’s Motiva. However, talks between RdK and
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Motiva did not bear any fruit.
As such, the continuation of negotiations The third was the Klesch Group, a privately
between RdK and CORC, despite the lapse of held international industrial commodities firm
the MoU, comes as no surprise. Both parties that was named as the winner of a bidding con-
have confirmed that they are still in talks, Argus test for control of the refinery and all associ-
Media reported last week. ated facilities in 2019. The two sides sought to
CORC has described itself as a “100% finalise an agreement by mid-2020, but negoti-
Curaçao-based entity with shareholdings of ations were first delayed by the pandemic and
Dick and Doof, together with the combined then derailed by Klesch’s failure to meet RdK’s
trade unions PWFC and APRI.” It has also stated demands for more detail on its financial plans.
that it was working with Javier Hernandez, the As a result, the refinery operator broke off talks
former general manager of the refinery, but has with the group last July.
not divulged the details of its arrangements with The Isla refinery has been idle since 2019.
Hernandez. This is partly because its associated utilities unit,
known as Curaçao Refinery Utilities (CRU),
Two-track negotiations was not supplying steam, and partly because US
Rdk said earlier this year that negotiations with sanctions prevented its then-operator, the Ven-
CORC would take place along two tracks simul- ezuelan national oil company (NOC) PdVSA,
taneously, with one track involving the company from delivering feedstock.
and the consortium and the other involving PdVSA began operating the Isla refinery and
Curaçao’s government and the consortium. It associated facilities under a rental agreement
also said at the same time that it hoped to wrap first signed in 1985 and later renewed multiple
up talks by early March, but it did not meet this times. RdK allowed the latest version of that
target. contract to expire at the end of 2019. ™

VENEZUEL A
Completion of FSO unloading will allow

PetroSucre to bring Corocoro back on line

PETROSUCRE, a joint venture formed by Ita-
ly’s Eni and Venezuela’s national oil company
(NOC) PdVSA, is preparing to resume produc-
tion at the Corocoro field following the comple-
tion of unloading operations in the Gulf of Paria.
The joint venture made an announcement
to this effect last week, noting in a Twitter post
that the process of unloading crude oil from the
Nabarima, a floating storage and off-loading
(FSO) vessel capable of carrying 1.3mn barrels
of oil, had been completed. The post quoted Jose The FSO was carrying 1.15mn barrels of oil (Photo: El Nacional)
Romero, the president of PetroSucre, as saying
that all 1.15mn barrels of heavy crude from of Parima between Venezuela and Trinidad and
Corocoro had been removed from the FSO Tobago. Following the publication of photos
between last December and early April. showing that the vessel had developed a tilt of
The Nabarima began listing last August, rais- 25-30 degrees, Eni offered to help its joint ven-
ing fears that it might spill its cargo in the Gulf ture partner remove the oil.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 15 15•April•2021