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There has also been a tender by Pavilion Energy Elliott Abrams pointed out last week. Abrams
for offsets up to the point of delivery. also indicated that Washington did not intend to
Earlier this month, carbon-neutral LNG seize these cargoes, as it did in August.
was discussed at the Gastech Virtual Summit, In the meantime, the national oil company
where speakers noted that the growing appe- (NOC) PdVSA is reportedly scrapping some of
tite for offsetting emissions from the fuel would its own infrastructure in order to secure metal
raise its costs. However, such an increase in the and parts. According to Bloomberg, it hopes to
price of LNG would come at a time when low use these materials as payment in kind for repair
natural gas prices are key to displacing com- work on pumping stations and compression
peting fuels, including coal, and to penetrating facilities that serve oil production facilities in
emerging, price-sensitive markets in Asia. As Monagas State. The NOC is eager to bring these
a result, the industry would need to be careful fields back on stream, as they contain light crude
to balance decarbonisation with remaining that can be made into gasoline more easily than
cost-competitive. the heavy crude contained in the Orinoco belt.
Wood Mackenzie’s principal analyst for Further north, Canada’s Crystallex has asked
Asia-Pacific gas and LNG, Lucy Cullen, told a judge in the US federal court system to set a
Gastech that two sets of buyers could emerge on date for the sale of shares in PdV Holding, the
the LNG market if carbon-neutral LNG becomes PdVSA subsidiary that is the parent company Two sets of
more commonplace. The first set would be those of US-based downstream operator Citgo Petro- buyers could
that are more carbon-conscious and the second leum. Crystallex, which is trying to enforce a
would be those that are more sensitive to price. $1.4bn arbitration decision that went against emerge on
The discussion about carbon-neutral LNG Venezuela, has proposed that the sales begin on
comes as Qatar – one of the leading producers January 11, 2021. LNG markets
of the super-chilled fuel – is seeking to undercut
competitors by developing significant new low- If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping if carbon-
cost LNG capacity. This week, a warning came the Latin American oil and gas sector then please click neutral LNG
that this push to bring down the cost of LNG here for NewsBase’s LatAmOil Monitor.
could make it more difficult for producers in becomes more
Australia and elsewhere to sanction new lique- Mideast: Focus returns to exploration
faction projects. Middle Eastern countries are showing an appe- commonplace
tite for resuming exploration efforts as confi-
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping dence about demand recovery emerges. Despite
the global LNG sector then please click here for recently cancelling a contract to drill 11 wells to
NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor. raise heavy oil production, state-owned Kuwait
Oil Co. (KOC) is preparing to launch a tender for
Latin America: Pressure on Venezuela an offshore seismic survey as the emirate seeks to
This week’s LatAmOil takes a close look at devel- identify between six and 20 drill sites as part of its
opments involving Venezuela. inaugural maritime exploration effort.
The South American state continues to suf- In Oman, while recent licensing efforts have
fer widespread fuel shortages but is awaiting the failed, US horizontal drilling specialist EOG
arrival of two tankers filled with Iranian gasoline. Resources has become the latest firm to commit
The shipments are not likely to provide relief for to brownfield development, signing an explora-
long, as the vessels only hold enough to cover tion and production-sharing agreement (EPSA)
consumption for a few weeks, US special envoy for Block 36 in the south-west of the Sultanate.

Week 38 23•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9