Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 42 2022

LatAmOil ARGENTINA LatAmOil

Potential investors that meet the eligibility tight gas in the Punta Rosada and Lajas forma-
requirements will have until November 4 to tions at depths of 3,000-4,000 metres. More than
notify UBS of their interest in the sale and then 300 wells have been drilled there to date, and 58
must execute a confidentiality agreement and of them have been abandoned.
compliance certificate by November 11, the Petrobras did not say whether any other
tender documents said. companies had expressed interest in POSA thus
“The parties that comply with these terms far or reveal how much it hoped to earn from
will then be eligible to receive a confidential the sale. It explained its decision to divest its
information memorandum with detailed infor- Argentinian subsidiary by referring to its “port-
mation on POSA’s assets, it stated. folio optimisation strategy and capital allocation
POSA’s only asset is a 33.6% stake in Rio Neu- improvement, aiming to maximise value and
quén, an unconventional (tight) gas field that higher return to society.” ™
straddles the border between Argentina’s Neu-
quén and Rio Negro provinces. The remaining
equity in the site is split between YPF, Argenti-
na’s NOC, with 33.3%; and Pampa Energia, an
Argentinian company, with 33.1%.
As of September 2022, Rio Neuquén was
yielding around 1.52mn cubic metres per day
of gas and 700 barrels per day (bpd) of crude
oil, condensate and other liquids. The field was
discovered by YPF in 1971 and contains mostly Petrobras is selling its Argentinean assets (File Photo)

ECUADOR
Petroecuador hopes to sign new contract

for expanding gas output at Amistad soon

ECUADOR’S national oil company (NOC) The Amistad gas field is located within a
Petroecuador said last week that it expects to licence area known as Block 06. It lies within the
wrap up the process of awarding a contract for Gulf of Guayaquil, 65 km north-west of Puerto
boosting natural gas production at the offshore Bolivar offshore El Oro Province.
Amistad field in the near future. Amistad is Ecuador’s only operating offshore
In a press release, Petroecuador indicated gas field. It serves as a source of feedstock for
that it was nearly ready to sign a deal for the pro- thermal power plants (TPPs) and petrochemical
ject. It did not name its potential partner but said plants and also provides fuel for public transpor-
that it would be signing a 20-year service con- tation systems.
tract, under which the NOC would retain own- Petroecuador has tried before to find an
ership and operatorship of the field on behalf investor to increase production levels at the
of the state while the contractor would assume field, but its attempts have not been successful.
responsibility for investments and operating It launched a new round of competitive bidding
costs. in June of this year. ™
“We are progressing with the pre-contract
process under an integrated service contract
model, including financing,” it noted.
The chosen contractor will be expected to
start work in the fourth quarter of 2023 and
remain at Amistad, Petroecuador said in its
press release. It will invest about $500mn in
exploration and production operations at the
field with the goal of bringing production up
from the current level of around 24mn cubic
feet (679,600 cubic metres) per day to 100 mmcf
(2.8mn cubic metres) per day, it added.
It went on to say that it was executing the
Amistad expansion project in line with the UN’s
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), with an
eye toward the energy transition. The NOC hopes to sign a 20-year service contract for Amistad (Image: Petroecuador)

Week 42 19•October•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P13