Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 37 2022

LatAmOil BRAZIL LatAmOil

They also stated that they expected the investors the 6,000 barrel per day Unidade de Industrial-
that have bought Petrobras’ refineries thus far to izacao de Xisto (SIX) plant in Parana State, and
rebuff any approaches from the campaign if the another is with the Brazilian fuel distributor
candidate showed favour for this approach. Atem for the 46,000 bpd Refinaria Isaac Sabba
One of Reuters’ sources said he was confi- (REMAN) plant in Amazonas State. The third
dent that Mubadala Capital (UAE/Abu Dhabi) is with the Grepar Participações fund for the
had no interest in unloading the Landulpho Refinaria Lubrificantes e Derivados do Nord-
Alves Refinery (RLAM), located in Bahia State. este (LUBNOR) plant in Ceara State. Reuters’
Acelen, the Mubadala affiliate that operates the sources did not comment on any of these pri-
plant (now known as the Mataripe refinery), is vate investors’ stances on Lula’s campaign posi-
not looking to sell, especially since it is in the tion, and as a press time neither Petrobras nor
process of implementing an investment pro- Mubadalas Capital had spoken publicly of the
gramme, he said. matter. ™
The news agency’s other sources added,
meanwhile, that Acelen was not likely to refuse
if Petrobras tried to open up talks on repurchas-
ing the refinery after the presidential election
in October. They emphasised, though, that the
company was very unlikely to agree to a deal
that would put the plant back under Petrobras’
control.
Mubadala Capital paid $1.8bn for the refin-
ery, the first plant sold in the NOC’s refinery
privatisation drive, in 2021. Since then, it has
managed to raise capacity utilisation levels at the
plant from about 70% to nearly 100%.
To date, Petrobras has signed three addi-
tional refinery sales agreements. One is with
the Forbes & Manhattan bank of Canada for The Mataripe refinery’s new owner does not want to sell (Photo: Petrobras)

ECUADOR
Ecuador’s government, indigenous groups

sign deal for 12-month hold on oil licences

ECUADOR’S government announced on Sep- out similar arrangements for the subsurface
tember 9 that it had signed an agreement with resource sector, he said.
the leaders of indigenous communities on the In the meantime, he commented, the two
suspension of licensing for 15 oil and gas explo- sides will continue discussions with the goal
ration blocks in the Pastaza and Morona Santi- of working toward a mutually acceptable
ago provinces for a period of at least one year. compromise.
According to Energy and Mining Minister “We have had agreements and also disa-
Xavier Vera, the agreement imposes a 12-month greements, but that’s dialogue,” he told report-
moratorium on the exploration and develop- ers. “The negotiations are working, and we are
ment of the blocks, which are located in a section listening.”
of the upper Amazon River basin that has never Indigenous groups had been asking for a
been opened up for exploitation. complete moratorium on oil development in
The ban will remain in place for at least a year areas surrounding their territory and in envi-
while Quito works with the leaders of indig- ronmentally sensitive portions of the Pastaza
enous groups to formulate a process for com- and Morona Santiago provinces, as well as a
munity vetting of oil and gas projects, he told definitive suspension of mining licence and per-
journalists. mit awards. They began pressing this demand
Vera also noted that the agreement touched more forcefully after the Ministry of Energy and
on the extractive sector, explaining that Ecua- Mining included more than a dozen Amazon
dor’s government had agreed to put a hold on basin blocks in the Ronda Suroriente auctions.
the award of new mining permits and environ- The Ecuadorean government, by contrast,
mental licences in the same two provinces. This has been generally supportive of expanding the
suspension will continue until Quito hammers development of oil, gas and mineral resources.

Week 37 14•September•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11