Page 10 - AfrOil Week 50 2020

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The Brazilian gas industry has long been under gas infrastructure is becoming increasingly
the exclusive control of Petrobras, the national oil problematic.
company (NOC). But the new bill aims to make
room for private investors, partly by limiting ver- If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
tical integration (that is, by barring gas produc- the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then please click
ers from acting as distributors and vice versa). here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor .
It also swaps the existing concession regime for
gas distribution for a system of authorisations NorthAmOil: Canadian decarbonisation
that will be overseen by the National Agency The end of the year has seen a significant policy
of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP). development emerge in Canada, while news of
Government officials hope the latter measure layoffs continued to emanate from the US’ oil
will help eliminate bureaucratic hurdles to the and gas industry.
construction of new gas pipelines. In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
has stepped up his decarbonisation push, unveil-
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping ing a strategy that includes a gradual increase in
the Latin American oil and gas sector then please click the country’s carbon tax over the coming decade.
here for NewsBase’s LatAmOil Monitor . His plan, which is aimed at Canada meeting its
2030 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions target
MEOG: Attacks and unrest after missing previous ones, centres on the coun-
Oil prices have rebounded in recent weeks as a try’s carbon tax increasing by CAD15 ($12) per
string of attacks on oil infrastructure and politi- tonne per year between 2023 and 2030.
cal unrest have reintroduced an element of geo- The current price is CAD30 ($24) per tonne
political risk into pricing. and under the plan the price hikes would con-
In Kurdistan, usually the least restive part of tinue until it hits CAD170 ($133) per tonne.
Iraq, protests about unpaid public sector salaries The plan seeks to put Canada on track to cut
have boiled over and threatened Erbil’s vital oil GHG emissions by around 40% below 2005 lev- Jeddah was the
revenues. With public servants in the region not els by 2030, compared with the previous goal of site of an oil
having received their salaries in full since April, 30%. But there is opposition to the plan, with oil
the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has production leader Alberta saying it would chal- tanker explosion
resorted to banning protests and travel between lenge the tax hikes in court. Regardless of how
cities, as well as restricting internet access in an successful the challenge is, the new target is likely this week
attempt to slow the spread of unrest. So desperate to complicate the path forward for the province,
is the KRG’s plight that it has agreed to provide which was hit hard by lower oil prices this year.
the federal oil marketing firm with ‘unspecified In the US, meanwhile, it emerged last week
quantities’ of oil in exchange for its 12.67% share that Parsley Energy would lay off most of its
of the Iraqi budget. workers in Austin, Texas as part of its upcoming
Attacks have continued to plague Saudi Ara- sale to Pioneer Natural Resources. The $4.5bn
bia’s Red Sea coast, with Jeddah the site of an oil transaction comes as consolidation picks up
tanker explosion this week. While there were pace in the US oil and gas industry. A number of
no casualties, the attack is the latest in a string mergers are currently underway, but while these
of small but threatening moves against Saudi may help companies to survive, the same cannot
Aramco’s oil infrastructure and follows hits on necessarily be said for their workforces.
tankers, a distribution centre and other infra- The Parsley layoffs include 234 workers, Reu-
structure in recent months. ters reported, citing a notice to the Texas Work-
Meanwhile, a pipeline carrying crude from force Commission, though it added that some
the supergiant Marun oilfield to the city of of those employees would be offered jobs with
Isfahan caught fire this week following a land- Pioneer in Las Colinas or Midland, Texas.
slide. The incident appears to have been caused
by the integrity of the conduit rather than an If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
attack, though this will come as little consola- the North American oil and gas sector then please click
tion to NIOC, whose vast and ageing oil and here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 50 16•December•2020