Page 14 - LatAmOil Week 19 2020

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ExxonMobil, the operator of Stabroek, will use the FPSO, which will be known as Liza Unity, to develop the second section of the Liza field.
The US super-major and its partners are already using another FPSO, the Liza Destiny, for the first phase of work at Liza. Hess said last week that this vessel was set to reach its full capacity of 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil in June. It also noted that it had sold its first cargo of oil from its share of production at the Liza field in March. The cargo consisted of 1mn barrels, it said.
Hess has a 30% stake in the Stabroek Block. The US company’s share of production from the Liza field averaged 15,000 bpd in the first quarter of 2020.
In its first-quarter report, Hess also noted that the partners were still planning to proceed with the development of Payara, another field at Stabroek that may eventually yield 220,000 bpd
of oil. It reported, though, that this initiative would be subject to delays.
Some 2020 activities at Payara are now being deferred, pending government approval to pro- ceed, it explained. That could lead to “a poten- tial delay in first production of six to 12 months beyond the initial start-up target in 2023,” it warned.
Stabroek is estimated to hold more than 8bn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in gross recov- erable resources. In January, ExxonMobil and its partners announced their 16th discovery at the block. They said they had found oil at Uaru, which is approximately 16 km north-east of Liza.
Guyana, one of Latin America’s poorest countries, had no experience of oil production until last December, when Liza began produc- tion. Liza and other offshore fields could help turn its economy around. ™
More than a dozen oilfields have been discovered at Stabroek (Image: Hess)
Nynas gets relief from US sanctions after PdVSA reduces its stake
VENEZUELA
VENEZUELA’S national oil company (NOC) PdVSA has reduced its stake in Sweden’s Nynas from 50.1% to 15%. As a result, the Swedish spe- cialty products refiner is no longer subject to US sanctions on Venezuela, which penalise compa- nies that co-operate with PdVSA.
According to Argus Media, Nynas first incurred penalties under the sanctions regime in August 2017 and eventually found itself una- ble to import heavy crude oil from Venezuela for use in its refineries. This, in turn, weakened the company’s finances, leaving it unable to pay off all its debts or to obtain financing to buy
feedstock. Nynas therefore decided last Decem- ber to revamp its roster of shareholders.
The re-organisation was designed to remove PdVSA from its position as the company’s majority shareholder, Nynas said in a statement. As a result, the Venezuelan NOC now holds only 15%, and the remaining equity is split between Neste (Finland), with 49.9%, and an independ- ent Swedish foundation, with 35.1%.
The foundation has no ties to PdVSA and
was established specifically for the purpose of reducing the Venezuelan company’s holdings,
the statement said. 
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 19 14•May•2020