Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 29 2020

LatAmOil US VIRGIN ISL ANDS LatAmOil

“The ability to most efficiently burn both LPG fuel efficiency and lower overall operating costs.
and LFO was a major factor in selecting the It will also reduce the dependence and environ-
Wärtsilä LG engines for this project,” he said. mental impact of diesel oil. The four generators
“Additionally, the hybrid solution will add even are fuelled by a cleaner burning fuel which will
more operational flexibility and will serve to lead to reduced air emissions and enhanced
improve the existing grid stability on the island.” overall air quality.”
Lawrence Kupfer, WAPA’s CEO, also USVI authorities began promoting the use
expressed satisfaction with the deal. “The Wärt- of LPG as a fuel for power generation in 2012,
silä plant will provide much needed additional after the closure of the Hovensa oil refinery. It
baseload capacity to the Island’s electricity sup- did so partly because LPG is a cleaner-burning
ply,” he said. “It will improve the system’s relia- fuel than the fuel oil used previously and partly
bility, while at the same time giving us additional because fuel oil became more difficult to source
fuel and operational flexibility that will increase after the refinery went offline. ™

COLOMBIA
Ecopetrol makes upward revision

to investment budget for 2020

COLOMBIA’S national oil company (NOC) but it should allow the company to remain com-
Ecopetrol has approved a new version of its cap- petitive even if prices are closer to $30 per bar-
ital investment budget for 2020. rel. It also projects that Colombia’s oil output will
The state-owned firm had said last Novem- average 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2020.
ber that it was prepared to fund capital projects Ecopetrol said the board had raised spending
more generously this year, to the tune of $4.5- limits after conducting a detailed review of the
5.5bn, after turning in a solid financial per- company’s asset portfolio and determining that
formance in 2019. It based this budget on the efforts to improve its financial position had been
assumption that Brent crude prices would aver- effective.
age $57 per barrel in 2020. It also said it expected to be able to support
So far, though, global crude markets have not additional investments, in light of the gradual
met expectations; instead, they have declined, ramp-up in global economic activity, which
partly because the coronavirus (COVID-19) slowed dramatically in March and April.
pandemic brought energy demand down and The company also stressed, though, that it
partly because the Russian-Saudi oil price war was working to ensure that it could remain via-
exacerbated supply gluts. As such, Ecopetrol’s ble in an environment of low oil prices. It said
board of directors voted earlier this year to limit that the new budget focused on “prioritising
capital expenditures to $2.5-3.0bn and to cut the cash-generating opportunities and with better
reference price for Brent to $30-40 per barrel. equilibrium prices, maintaining growth dynam-
Last week, though, board members approved ics with a focus on the execution of development
a more generous plan that sets the investment plans for strategic assets, and on preserving the
budget at $3.0-3.4bn in 2020, with 78% of the value of assets through investments that provide
total reserved for upstream exploration and reliability, integrity and continuity to the current
production projects. The new plan assumes that operation in refineries, transportation systems
Brent prices will average $38 per barrel this year, and production fields.” ™

Colombia signed several offshore oil exploration deals last year (Photo: Chevron)

Week 29 23•July•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13