Page 18 - AsianOil Week 01 2021

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a quiet period. These included a significant LNG LatAmOil: Venezuelan sanctions
asset sale announced in Australia in late Decem- US sanctions continue to dog Venezuela’s oil
ber, as well as the start-up of a new import terminal industry, which has seen output plummet over
in Croatia. Meanwhile in the US, the third of three the last few years.
companies proposing to build a new LNG export Halliburton, one of the world’s largest oil-
terminal at the Port of Brownsville in Texas signed field service providers, said in late December
a long-term lease with the port. that it had reduced the size of its workforce
The Australian asset sale involves Royal in the South American country. The Hou-
Dutch Shell, which said on December 21 that ston-based firm has been ramping down its
it had agreed to divest a 26.25% stake in the Venezuelan operations for some time, in line
Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) common with US sanctions policy, but it is now trim-
facilities to Global Infrastructure Partners Aus- ming staff levels even further.
tralia. The stake will be sold for $2.5bn, in a deal As of press time Halliburton had not revealed
anticipated to close in the first half of 2021. the extent of the staff cuts. However, a spokes-
Shell currently owns 100% of the QCLNG woman told Reuters that the company was not
common facilities, as well as a 73.75% interest closing up shop completely.
in the overall QCLNG project. The super-major “Halliburton halted its primary opera-
said the sale would bring its interest in the com- tions in Venezuela as a result of US sanc-
mon facilities into alignment with its stake in the tions imposed on the country. Because of
overall project as it works to sell non-core assets this, Halliburton is reducing its Venezuelan
and high-grade and simplify its portfolio. workforce,” she explained. “Halliburton
In Croatia, meanwhile, the Krk floating LNG remains committed to maintaining a pres-
(FLNG) terminal entered service on January 1. ence in Venezuela.”
On that date, the Tristar Ruby tanker arrived to She was speaking after Reuters reported
offload the first commercial cargo, consisting of that three little-known companies based in the
LNG from the US, at the facility. UAE – Asia Charm, Issa Shipping and Muhit
These developments occurred as the pros- Maritime – had begun handling Venezuelan
pects for US exporters of the super-chilled fuel crude in the second half of 2020. The news
improved, thanks to higher LNG prices. There agency noted in late December that the firms
are even signs of greater long-term confidence, in question had taken control of about half a
as illustrated by Texas LNG signing a 50-year dozen tankers previously used to ship Vene-
lease agreement with the Port of Brownsville zuelan oil and fuels and then renamed them
to support its proposed export terminal. Texas before resuming shipments from the South
LNG joins Annova LNG and Rio Grande LNG American state.
in making the commitment. A spokesman for the US State Department
responded to questions from Reuters by say-
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping ing that Washington was “closely tracking
the global LNG sector then please click here for these kinds of creative efforts by companies
NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor. to avoid sanctions.” Meanwhile, authorities

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