Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 28 2022

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The regulations focused on the exploration and
development of unconventional hydrocarbon
sites and permitted the use of non-standard
methods such as hydraulic fracturing (fracking).
As such, they drew a great deal of criticism
– not just from environmentalists who were
broadly opposed to fossil fuels, but also from
more narrowly focused activists who were
specifically working to block fracking projects.
The latter repeatedly expressed concern about
the possibility that fracking posed particularly
strong risks to water resources and ecosystems.
The Council of State responded to such crit-
icism by brushing it off, on the grounds that
the regulations at issue in the lawsuit were not Opposition to fracking has been strong in some locations (Photo: Desde Abajo)
addressing the question of whether fracking was
or was not permitted. “The rules ... do not create, Petro, a leftist who has said he wants to freeze all
authorise, endorse or allow fracking,” it wrote. new oil and gas exploration – may very well look
“They contain an update of the technical regu- for other ways to block such initiatives.
lation that already existed for an activity that is As of press time, neither the Petro adminis-
not prohibited.” tration, Ecopetrol nor ExxonMobil had com-
In theory, the court’s ruling should leave the mented publicly on the matter.
door open for pilot unconventional projects – By contrast, the Colombia Free From Frack-
such as the one that ExxonMobil (US) and its ing Alliance, a non-governmental organisation
partner Ecopetrol, the Colombian national oil (NGO), expressed its disappointment with the
company (NOC), intend to carry out at the court’s decision openly. “This decision is dan-
Kale and Platero fields near Puerto Wilches in gerous in the context of the climate crisis and
Santander Province. But in practice, the Colom- openly inconsistent with the international com-
bian government – headed by President Gustavo mitments made by Colombia,” it said. ™

VENEZUEL A
Citgo is willing to import Venezuelan crude

if it gets permission from US government

CITGO Petroleum, a US-based downstream
affiliate of Venezuela’s national oil company
(NOC) PdVSA, indicated last week that it was
willing to resume imports of Venezuelan crude
if the US government authorised it to do so.
Citgo has been unable to source feedstock
from Venezuela since 2019, due to Ameri-
can sanctions on its parent company PdVSA.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, how-
ever, US and Venezuelan officials began talks
in March on the prospects for easing trade
restrictions.
There is wide support for such a move. OPEC
and the French government have been urging
the US to ease sanctions and to allow Vene-
zuelan and Iranian exports to countries that
are struggling to replace their Russian-sourced
supplies of crude oil and natural gas. Citgo is ready to consider Venezuelan oil under the right conditions (Photo: Citgo)
In response to this mounting pressure, the
US in May authorised two European companies of sanctions – to import Venezuelan oil again.
– Italy’s Eni and Spain’s Repsol, the last Euro- That move helped push Venezuela’s oil and fuel
pean operators to remain active in the South exports above 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) in
American country following the imposition June.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 28 14•July•2022