Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 37 2022

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“We have expressed our will to keep contrib- it the largest oil transport system in Ecuador.
uting to the country’s development,” Vugdelija However, it has been operating far below
stated. “But we respect the government’s will. If capacity.
its choice is that we won’t continue, we guarantee In 2021, it carried only 151,690 bpd, or 34%
the pipeline will be handed over to the country.” of capacity, and in the first seven months of
Indeed, Argus Media noted, OCP Ecuador 2022, it carried 152,016 bpd, down by 7.3% on
began taking the first required steps toward the figure of 163,987 bpd reported for the same
surrendering its licence last year. The handover period of the previous year.
process includes asset inventories and environ- Equity in OCP Ecuador is divided between
mental audits carried out by a bilateral commis- Petroriental, a subsidiary of China National
sion manned by both OCP and government Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), with 36.26%; Pampa
representatives, it said. Energia (Argentina), with 30.06%; Repsol
The OCP network has a throughput capacity (Spain), with 29.66%, and Perenco (UK/France),
of nearly 450,000 barrels per day (bpd), making with 4.02%. ™

REGIONAL
Iran plans to construct oil refineries in

Venezuela and Uruguay, says lawmaker

AN Iranian lawmaker said on September 13 that sector. Joint refinery projects have the potential
Iran has plans to construct oil refineries in Ven- to improve trade and diplomatic ties with other
ezuela and Uruguay, the semi-official Tasnim states, generate additional income and provide
News Agency reported. easier access to new markets, he said.
Mohammadreza Mir-Tajeddini, a member “Venezuela has many refineries which
of the Iranian Parliament’s planning and budget require our country’s up-to-date know-how and
committee, said the refinery projects would help technology,” he was quoted as saying by Tasnim.
Iran get around the US sanctions regime. He was “We can take advantage of such a capacity to
referring to the trade restrictions that Washing- achieve our purposes in and outside the region.
ton has put in place in an ongoing attempt to We can have access to the customers without
block sales of Iranian oil and petroleum product paying additional costs in this way because the
on world markets. extra and additional expenses for the export of
According to Mir-Tajeddini, Iran would pro- oil are very high at present.”
vide technical and engineering services to assist Neither Mir-Tajeddini nor Mohammadne-
with the construction of the refineries. It would jad identified any specific refinery projects for
also provide some of its own crude to serve as joint investment.
feedstock for the plants and retain equity shares Earlier this month, a third Iranian lawmaker,
in the facilities, he said. Ali-Akbar Alizadeh Bahrami, said Iran might
He was speaking shortly after another Ira- focus on completing unfinished refineries in
nian lawmaker, Parviz Mohammadnejad, various countries abroad. There has been spec-
expressed support for co-operation with Ven- ulation that Iran is interested in building at least
ezuela and other countries in the downstream one refinery in Syria. ™

Iran has signed a contract for repair work at Venezuela’s El Palito refinery (Photo: PdVSA)

Week 37 14•September•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P13