Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 28 2021

LatAmOil VENEZUEL A LatAmOil

US authorises LPG shipments to Venezuela

THE US government has slightly loosened the US government imposed strict limits on trade
sanctions regime that restricts trade in Venezue- with Venezuela in the hope of convincing Pres-
lan crude oil and petroleum products to permit ident Nicolas Maduro to relinquish power. The
deliveries of LPG, which is widely used as cook- campaign did not achieve its end, as Maduro is
ing fuel in the South American country. still in office, and Trump’s successor Joe Biden
The US Treasury Department announced has indicated that he is willing to explore pro-
the change on July 13, saying in a statement that posals for permitting some fuel shipments on
its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had humanitarian grounds.
issued General Licence No. 4, which authorises Petroleum products have been scarce in Ven-
LPG shipments to Venezuela and to the national ezuela for the last few years, and supplies have
oil company (NOC) PdVSA. The document dried up even more over the last year, owing to
effectively revokes a previous executive order the decline in PdVSA’s oil production levels and
issued by former President Donald Trump that refinery throughput. The NOC has not been able
prohibits “all transactions and activities related to keep all of its production, transportation and
to the exportation or re-exportation, directly refining infrastructure in good working order,
or indirectly, of [LPG] to Venezuela, involv- as the sanctions regime has reduced oil export
ing the government of Venezuela, Petroleos de revenues and hindered efforts to buy parts and
Venezuela SA (PdVSA) or any entity in which equipment. ™
PdVSA owns, directly or indirectly, a 50% or
greater interest,” it said.
Under General Licence No. 40, LPG suppli-
ers may not accept payment in kind in the form
of crude oil or refined petroleum products from
PdVSA or any other authorised Venezuelan
entity; nor may they send LPG to any unauthor-
ised Venezuelan individual or organisation.
The ban on payment in kind may complicate
matters. PdVSA and the Venezuelan govern-
ment do not have much foreign currency on
hand, and the US sanctions regime prevents
them from seeking loans on the world financial
markets.
Nevertheless, the issuance of General Licence
No. 40 does represent a departure from previous
US policy. Under the Trump administration, the LPG is widely used as cooking fuel in Venezuela (File Photo)

GUYANA
CGX, Frontera prepare to spud Kawa-1

exploration well at Corentyne block

CGX Energy and Frontera Energy are report- Kawa-1 will target a stratigraphic trap within
edly gearing up to spud the Kawa-1 exploration the Santonian layer, as the partners hope the site
well at the Corentyne block offshore Guyana. will be analogous to an area that lies directly to
According to CGX documents viewed by the east – namely, the middle part of Block 58 in
OilNOW.gy and a statement from Frontera, Suriname’s offshore zone, where TotalEnergies
the two Canadian companies recently began (France) and Apache (US) have made four oil
preparations for drilling at a site about 167 km discoveries.
offshore in 355-metre-deep water. They intend The well will be drilled within the eastern
to begin drilling operations in the first half of section of Corentyne, which lies adjacent to
August and will need about 85 days to sink the the maritime border between Guyana and
well to a depth of about 6,575 metres. Suriname.

Week 28 15•July•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9