Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 37 2022
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LatAmOil                                         MEXICO                                            LatAmOil



                         He also told El Financiero that the Budget Com-
                         mittee might not base the 2023 budget on the
                         expectation that oil prices would average $61.10
                         per barrel. This figure was put forward in April
                         2022 and may be set to a higher level, he said,
                         without elaborating.
                           Crude oil is currently selling at about $90
                         per barrel for Brent crude and $85 per barrel for
                         WTI. Brent prices have fallen by slightly more
                         than 26% in the last three months, while WTI
                         has gone down by about 35% over the same
                         period.
                           While Mexican President Andres Manuel
                         Lopez Obrador has discussed the 2023 budget,
                         including the plans to extend the extra fund-
                         ing for Pemex, with Finance Secretary Rogelio
                         Ramirez de la O, he has not yet seen the final
                         document outlining next year’s budget.
                           The presidential administration has indi-
                         cated that it expects to end the current year with
                         a small primary deficit and a balanced primary
                         budget. This is in line with last year’s results, as
                         Mexico ended 2021 with a deficit of 0.3% of
                         GDP.                                      Mexico City hopes to attract more investment to Pemex next year (File Photo)
                           According to Gonzalez, the 2023 budget is
                         not likely to follow this pattern, as it does not   changes in Mexico City’s spending patterns
                         follow the forecast of a primary surplus of 0.4%   next year but also stated that the 2023 budget
                         of GDP projected in April’s preliminary version.   reflected Lopez Obrador’s support for certain
                         He stressed that there would be no significant   social programmes. ™



       Pemex confirms part of report on methane




       emissions at Zaap oilfield last December






                         MEXICO’S national oil company (NOC) Pemex
                         has partially confirmed a report on methane
                         leaks at Ku-Maloob-Zaap, a cluster of oilfields
                         in the southern Gulf of Mexico off the coast of
                         Campeche State, but says the total amount of
                         gas released was smaller than researchers have
                         estimated.
                           Pemex issued an acknowledgment of the
                         leaks on September 8, saying that a methane leak
                         did occur at the Zaap-C platform in December
                         2021, as stated in an article published in Envi-
                         ronmental Science & Technology Letters by
                         a research team at the Polytechnic University
                         of Valencia in June 2022. However, the NOC   Satellite images showed a methane leak from the Zaap-C platform (Images: ESA)
                         disputed the team’s conclusions, which were
                         based on satellite data from the European Space   flare off methane emissions.
                         Agency (ESA), on several counts.       For another, Pemex argued that the total vol-
                           For one thing, Pemex dismissed the claim   ume of methane released during those several
                         that methane had leaked from the field on multi-  hours amounted to only 2,224 tonnes and said
                         ple occasions between December 8 and Decem-  this figure had come from Solal-Genermasa, a
                         ber 27. Instead, it said that the methane leak had   Mexican consultancy that had studied the mat-
                         only lasted several hours on a single day, on an   ter under a contract with the government. The
                         occasion when rainy and windy weather had   research team had put the figure at more than
                         extinguished a flame that had been intended to   40,000 tonnes.



       Week 37   14•September•2022              www. NEWSBASE .com                                              P7
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