Page 18 - LatAmOil Week 40

LatAmOil GUYANA LatAmOil

“The only way you could get the oil out is to make consumption. “[Their] ability to raise money ...
the investments and more so now, because there is diminished, and especially if the outlook for
is a short window of opportunity. The renew- market conditions is not that great ... it becomes
ables [wind and solar power] are yapping at riskier,” he was quoted as saying by CMC.
people’s feet, and there could be a breakthrough Jagdeo also stressed, though, that long-term
technology that one day would cause oil prices considerations were not likely to prevent Exxon-
to crash totally,” the vice-president commented. Mobil from proceeding with development work
The risk is not theoretical, he added, as many at Stabroek, which is home to Liza, the country’s
international oil companies (IOCs) have scaled only producing oilfield. “[Both] the naysayers
back their investment programmes in recent and those who believe that we should go forward
months, partly in response to the coronavirus ... share the view that [the US company] wants to
(COVID-19) pandemic and partly in response invest in Guyana because of the quality of our oil
to expectations of a long-run drop in crude and the low breakeven costs,” he remarked. ™

BRAZIL
Petrobras disqualifies Golar Power

from Bahia LNG terminal lease tender

BERMUDA-REGISTERED Golar Power is welcome offers from any of the nine entities that
already a player in Brazil’s LNG sector, and it had been pre-qualified to participate. It may
has been trying to expand its footprint in that now have to launch a new bidding contest.
country by bidding for the right to operate an The conditions of the current tender provide
underutilised LNG import terminal in Bahia for the top bidder to negotiate a leasing contract
State. for the Bahia LNG terminal, which is capable
However, the company’s ambitions have been of importing and regasifying the equivalent of
thwarted by reports of CEO Eduardo Antonel- 20mn cubic metres (mcm) per day of LNG. The
lo’s involvement in bribery charges. Petrobras, contract will also cover a 45-km pipeline that
the national oil company (NOC) of Brazil, has runs from terminal facilities in the port of Bahia
declined to accept an offer from a Golar sub- to exit points in São Francisco do Conde and São
sidiary to lease the Bahia LNG terminal, citing Sebastião do Passé, but it will not include access
concerns about excessive risk. to the Excelerate Experience, a floating storage
State-owned Petrobras announced its and regasification unit (FSRU) that Petrobras
decision last week, saying in a statement that has installed at the port.
Golar Power Comercializador de Gás Natural The Bahia terminal has been operating below
had effectively been disqualified on technical capacity for some time. According to data from
grounds, owing to questions about compli- Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry, it regasified
ance. “In the scope of the stages of (i) verifica- the equivalent of just 4.34 mcm per day of natu-
tion of effectiveness, in order to guarantee the ral gas in the first four months of 2020. ™
alignment with the requirements of the Public
Notice; and (ii) qualification, the integrity/com-
pliance requirements were verified, having been
assigned a high Risk Grade of Integrity (RGI)
for the company Golar Power Comercializador
de Gás Natural, implying its disqualification
from the contest based on items 5.1.1 and 10.6.4
of the Bidding Process Call,” the NOC said in a
statement.
This move raises questions about Petrobras’
plans for the facility. According to the NOC’s
statement, Golar was the only company to sub-
mit a binding offer for the lease contract. One
of two other potential investors – Compass Gás
e Energia, a local firm – declined to bid. Mean-
while, the other – BP Energy do Brasil, a sub-
sidiary of BP (UK) – has asked for more time to
finalise its offer.
Petrobras called a tender for the Bahia LNG
lease about two months ago, saying it would Bahia LNG regasification terminal (Photo: Bahia Pilots)

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 40 08•October•2020