Page 5 - LatAmOil Week 46 2019

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil
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(It also reported after the raid that protes- tors had bombed some sections of the facility, thereby putting residents of El Alto at risk of an explosion.)
Personnel changes
The armed forces have become involved in the fuel sector in other ways.
On November 14, Áñez appointed Luis Val- verde Ferrufino as the acting chief of ANH, the country’s hydrocarbons oversight agency. Val- verde, who replaced Gary Medrano, is a general in the Bolivian military.
The interim president has also replaced sev- eral other members of Morales’ fuel and energy team. She appointed Victor Hugo Zamora Castedo, a former senator, to serve as hydro- carbons minister. Zamora will replace Luis Alberto Sanchez, who was assigned to the post by Morales. One of his chief staff members will be Iver Antonio Pino, who will serve as deputy minister for the industrialisation, marketing, transport and storage of hydrocarbons.
Additionally, Áñez has also named Jose Luis Rivero Sandoval as the new head of YPFB, the national oil company (NOC). Sanchez, who is replacing Oscar Barriga, has reportedly worked on projects in Venezuela and the US, as well as Bolivia.
These newly appointed officials have, of course, been tasked with restoring supplies of motor fuel and cooking gas. They have indicated that they will start by working to improve condi- tions in La Paz and then focus on areas outside the capital city.
But Áñez has also tasked her new team with assessing conditions in the natural gas sector, which is one of the crucial drivers of the Bolivian economy. The Hydrocarbons Ministry said in a statement earlier this week that this review was Rivero’s top priority. YPFB must act to “recover
gas reserves, because the gas business could deeply diminish and affect the country’s econ- omy,” the statement said.
Cause for concern
This show of concern about the gas industry is not misplaced.
A week ago, the country’s gas fields were still operating normally, for the most part. Even so, YPFB warned buyers of Bolivian gas in Argen- tina and Brazil on November 11 that it might have to declare force majeure on exports, citing reports that “groups of people” had taken control of the Carrasco gas field. “We do not discount the possibility that other natural gas produc- tion and transportation facilities could be taken over,” the NOC said in a letter to the Argentinian utility IEASA.
Meanwhile, several of the international oil companies (IOCs) working in Bolivia may have scaled back operations in that country. Alvaro Rios, a former hydrocarbons minis- ter who is now the director of the Gas Energy Latin America consultancy, told Bloomberg recently that Repsol (Spain), Royal Dutch Shell (UK/Netherlands) and Total (France) had all slowed or halted work on their Bolivian licence areas. “Some of the exploration wells have been stopped,”thenewsagencyquotedhimassaying.
Rios did not comment on the extent of the slowdown. Total, Shell and Repsol all said last week that their Bolivian fields had suffered only minor disruptions.
Even so, conditions are likely to worsen in the near term. If Áñez’s caretaker government continues to clash with Morales supporters in the run-up to new elections early next year, the fuel and energy sector will find itself in an increasingly precarious position. If so, YPFB – and its foreign partners – may have to declare force majeure. ™
Tecpetrol, ExxonMobil and Shell
comment on Vaca Muerta’s prospects
Oil and gas firms are keen to develop the basin but wary of economic upheaval and political turnover
If the caretaker “
government continues to clash with supporters of Morales, the fuel and energy sector will find itself in an increasingly precarious position
ARGENTINA
THE head of Tecpetrol, Argentina’s third larg- est natural gas producer, said on November 20 that his company was still eager to develop the unconventional oil and gas reserves of the Vaca Muerta shale formation despite the upcoming change in government.
Carlos Ormachea, the CEO of Tecpetrol, said at a business conference organised by El Cronista in Buenos Aires that he was confident that President-elect Alberto Fernandez and his team would back plans to develop the Vaca Muerta Basin. Fernandez reportedly sees Vaca
Muerta projects as “an opportunity” to trans- form Argentina from a net fuel importer into a net exporter, he said.
“Vaca Muerta is a great export project,” Ormachea said. The basin’s oil and gas fields have the potential to attract funds that Argenti- na’s government can use to reduce the national debt, to balance its budget and to lay a founda- tion for sustained economic growth, he said.
“It has become an essential part of what could be the energy policy of Argentina over the next few years,” he added.
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Week 46 21•November•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
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