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involved in vote-fixing, bribes and other illegal concerns about announcements made by the
acts. Meanwhile, Loyoza himself is also facing Turkish President, the find is transformational
corruption charges. for a country which is reliant on imports for
In Brazil, prosecutors have accused two peo- nearly all of its energy needs.
ple of obtaining confidential market information As Saudi Aramco contends with a massively
from state-run Petrobras to benefit Denmark’s reduced capital budget, the company is reported
AP Moller-Maersk, a major player in the global to have cancelled its tender for maintenance
shipping industry. In a statement, judicial offi- work at the giant offshore Marjan oilfield. Citing
cials alleged that Viggo Andersen, a former sources close to the company’s long-term agree-
Maersk executive who was based in Brazil, ment (LTA) programme, Upstream said that the
had taken part in a scheme to bribe a Petrobras contract release purchase order 66 (CRPO-66)
executive through an intermediary. The scheme engineering, procurement and construction
caused Petrobras to incur at least $31.7mn in (EPC) project had been called off.
losses, the statement said.
In Peru, disagreements between the govern- If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
ment and indigenous communities continue to the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then please click
have an impact on oil-producing areas in Loreto here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor.
Province. Lima is moving forward with its inves-
tigation of a deadly clash between policemen and North America: Gulf Coast braces for storms
indigenous protesters at the Bretana oilfield ear- Offshore oil and gas producers in the US Gulf of
lier this month. The probe appears to be making Mexico – as well as refiners on the coast – were
enough progress that the demonstrators are will- suspending operations over the weekend as two
ing to let PeruPetro, the national oil and gas reg- storms in the region threatened to cause disrup-
ulator, resume shipments through the Northern tions. Tropical Storm Marco was downgraded
Oil Pipeline (ONP). For its part, PetroTal (Can- to a tropical depression the day it made landfall,
ada), the operator of Bretana, hopes to resume on August 24. However, Tropical Storm Laura
production before the end of the month. strengthened into Category 3 and then Category
Meanwhile, Argentina’s Energy Secretary 4 hurricane this week before making landfall on
Sergio Lanziani has stepped down from his August 27.
post at the request of Production Minister Mat- The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental
ias Kulfas. Dario Martinez, a legislator from Enforcement (BSEE), the offshore regulator, esti-
the hydrocarbon-rich Neuquen Province, has mated that roughly 84.3% of the Gulf’s oil pro-
been named as Lanziani’s replacement. His first duction had been shut in as of August 26, as well
task will be to address the harsh impact that the as 60.9% of the region’s gas output.
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had on Companies that had shut in production
Argentina’s oil and gas industry. and evacuated platforms included BP, Chev-
ron, Royal Dutch Shell and Norway’s Equinor.
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping Onshore, meanwhile, Motiva Enterprises and
the Latin American oil and gas sector then please click Valero Energy were among those to shut some
here for NewsBase’s LatAmOil Monitor. of their refining operations. Reuters estimated
on August 25 that nine refining facilities, with
Middle East: Deals, discoveries, budget cuts a combined capacity of 2.9mn barrels per day
Deals were signed last week between the Iraqi (bpd), were in the process of being shut in.
government and five US energy companies The disruption comes just as US producers
that focus on oil production, gas capture and were getting back on their feet after the severe
electricity generation. The news comes as Iraq’s industry downturn earlier this year. Data from
power sector continues to struggle particularly oilfield services provider Baker Hughes showed
amid record high temperatures, while Bagh- that the total active oil and gas rig count in the US
dad remains reliant on neighbouring Iran for rose in the week up to August 21 for the first time
gas and electricity. Iraq has said it will reduce since early March. The oil rig count increased by
imports from Iran, but this will depend greatly 11 on the previous week, while the gas rig count
on the progress made in capturing gas and grid fell by one. The Permian Basin accounted for the
connectivity. majority of the increase.
Meanwhile, Turkey this week announced its
largest ever find at the Tuna-1 well. The discov- If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
ery has been estimated at 320bn cubic metres the North American oil and gas sector then please click
and renamed Sakarya. While there are the usual here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor.

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 34 27•August•2020