Page 14 - LatAmOil Week 02 2023

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It also noted that 91.61% of total output had stated, the biggest producer was the Tupi field,
come from fields operated by Petrobras, the which yielded 812,490 bpd in November. Addi-
national oil company (NOC). tionally, it identified the production facility
The agency went on to say that offshore with the highest oil yields as the Carioca (Mv-
fields in the pre-salt zone had made up 74.51% 30) FPSO, noting that this vessel had handled
of total output, or about 2.964mn boepd. Crude 173,746 bpd from the Sépia, Sépia Eco and Sépia
oil accounted for 78.51% of this pre-salt pro- Leste fields in November. Additionally, it named
duction, or 2.327mn bpd, while gas production the FPSO Guanabara as the production facility
accounted for the remaining 21.49%, or 101.35 that had handled the most gas, saying that it had
mcm per day. processed 9.24 mcm per day of gas from the
With respect to crude oil alone, the agency shared Mero field in the same month. ™

ECUADOR
Petroecuador launches airlift to supply

Block 16 in the face of protests, roadblocks

PETROECUADOR, the national oil company
(NOC) of Ecuador, said on January 9 that it
had launched an airlift campaign to ensure
steady deliveries of essential supplies to Block
16, a crude oil-bearing site previously operated
by Canada’s New Stratus Energy, in Orellana
province.
In a statement, Petroecuador explained that
it was using aeroplanes to send food, fuel and
chemicals to Block 16. The NOC has been una-
ble to access the site due to road blockades set up
in the town of Dicaro by local members of the
Waorani indigenous community, even though
it had agreed to take control of Block 16 – and
Block 67, another site in Orellana province
assigned to New Stratus Energy – on a tempo-
rary basis.
Petroecuador’s operatorship is not intended New Stratus production facilities in Ecuador (Photo: New Stratus Energy)
to be permanent. Officials in Quito have said
that the company will only remain in control of staging a campaign of “peaceful resistance” since
Blocks 16 and 67 until the government can stage December 25 with the aim of protecting its own
an international tender to choose a new opera- interests and its own territory. To this end, the
tor for the project. post said, the community has asked to consult
Meanwhile, the NOC has blamed the indig- with the government on Petroecuador plan’s and
enous community’s protests and road blockades on other matters.
on New Stratus Energy, saying that problems Blocks 16 and 67 are home to nine producing
had arisen because of “demands that were not oilfields that yield heavy crude with an average
met by the private operator.” It has also declared specific gravity of 15.0-15.5 degrees API. The
that it intends to continue operating Block 16 fields have been outfitted with a 75,000 barrel
on a normal basis despite the disturbances, say- per day oil-processing facility and a 900,000 bpd
ing that it has enough employees and contract water-processing facility, with the latter facil-
staffers available to keep the site in production itating efforts to inject water into 30 operating
while remaining in compliance with Ecuado- development wells.
rean labour laws. The block was operated by Spain’s Repsol
CONFENIAE, the primary organisation of until its takeover by New Stratus Energy last
indigenous groups in Ecuador’s Amazonian year. Repsol and its partners had previously
regions, has described the situation somewhat built electricity generation facilities and a top-
differently. It said in a recent Twitter post that ping refinery that turns out diesel fuel that can
the Dicaro Waorani community had been be used to power field operations. ™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 02 11•January•2023