Page 16 - LatAmOil Week 36

LatAmOil BRAZIL LatAmOil

Under the new rules, companies seeking to distribution, in an effort to encourage more
build pipelines would face less bureaucracy. At upstream investment. They gained the approval
the same time, gas producers would no longer be of the national energy policy council, known
permitted to serve as distributors and vice-versa. as CNPE, last year after the Brazilian Congress
Mining and Energy Minister Bento Albu- failed to pass a new gas law.
querque has said that the bill, which still needs Petrobras currently accounts for around 80%
to gain a majority vote in the Federal Senate, of Brazil’s total gas production. The company
could attract BRL40bn ($7.6bn) worth of pri- controls and operates almost all of the country’s
vate investment to the gas sector. Other observ- offshore pipeline and all processing plants. ™
ers have asserted that the reforms will usher in a
period of cheap energy for industries in Brazil.
“We have the most expensive gas in the
world, which [has] forced hundreds of industries
to shut down in Brazil or change their source of
energy,” said legislator Laercio Oliveira, who
presented the bill in the Chamber of Deputies.
In an interview with Reuters, Oliveira said the
cost of gas in Brazil was currently more than
double international prices.
The new legislation builds on the Brazil-
ian government’s announcement last year of
sweeping plans to loosen Petrobras’ monopoly
grip over the gas market and bolster competi-
tion. The proposed reforms may take years to
implement.
The government’s plans provide for the
unbundling of gas supply from transport and Bahia LNG regasification terminal (Photo: Bahia Pilots)

ARGENTINA
Argentina’s Federal Police uncover

wide-ranging pipeline theft scheme

ARGENTINIAN authorities have uncovered a The 325,000 barrel per day (bpd) pipeline
wide-ranging scheme to siphon crude oil from a also supplies two other refineries – Raizen’s
pipeline that supplies the country’s three largest 110,000 bpd Dock Sud plant and Axion’s 95,000
refineries. bpd Campana plant. It carries a blend of light
News of the theft emerged last week after sweet crude known as Medanito from the Neu-
police carried out dozens of raids in four prov- quen Basin in central Argentina and heavy
inces, within the framework of a campaign Escalante crude from the Golfo San Jorge Basin,
known as Operation Punzar. Officers detained in the south-eastern part of the country.
23 people in a total of 39 raids in the provinces The theft from the pipeline has occurred on a
of Neuquen, Rio Negro, Buenos Aires and Santa scale not seen in Argentina before, according to
Fe. local press reports. It is believed that the thieves
The head of the Federal Police, Commis- used at least three fuel trucks to carry the stolen
sioner Juan Carlos Hernández, told the local crude.
newspaper Clarin that his agency had disman- YPF has said it first became aware of unusual
tled “the entire chain of responsibility at differ- activity in February 2019. Meanwhile, Security
ent levels and roles within the organisation, from Minister Sabina Frederic explained last week
the financier to those who tapped the pipelines.” that Operation Punzar “began last year with
The detainees have been accused of taking the investigation of an environmental crime
oil out of the Rosales-La Plata pipeline at a site and ended with the dismantling of a clandestine
near the town of Coronel Dorrego, in the south- plant and other subsidiary companies dedicated
ern section of Buenos Aires Province, near the to the distillation of crude oil.”
coast. The pipeline runs for 584 km from Puerto Major oil-siphoning schemes have been
Rosales, near the Bahia Blanca petrochemical unearthed in other Latin American countries,
hub, to La Plata refinery. Argentina’s state-run including Colombia and Mexico. In the latter
energy company YPF operates both the pipeline country, an explosion caused by the puncturing
and the refinery. of a pipeline killed 137 people last year. ™

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 35 03•September•2020