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In the Middle East, meanwhile, Qatar is doing NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor.
the same to drive forward its own LNG expan-
sion plans. Latin America: A tale of two producers
Last week, the government of US President Two South American states are facing very dif-
Donald Trump extended the terms of seven ferent conditions on the upstream front.
long-term LNG export authorisations until In Brazil, the national oil company (NOC)
2050. The move came as no surprise, following Petrobras has said it expects to surpass its
on from the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) original production goals. In a report on its
policy statement in July that it would permit third-quarter performance, the state-owned
LNG export authorisations to be extended. firm said its crude oil, natural gas liquid (NGL)
The US has only been exporting LNG since and natural gas output was on track to reach
2016, but has rapidly gained market share as new 2.84mn barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd),
liquefaction capacity has come online, mainly on with oil accounting for 2.28mn barrels per day
the Gulf Coast. (bpd) of the total. This is 2.5% above the original
However, efforts by US LNG producers to target figure of 2.7mn boepd, including 2.2mn
strike new off-take deals are running into obsta- bpd of oil, the NOC noted.
cles, not only because of the oversupplied mar- Petrobras also reported that it had extracted Efforts by US
ket, but also because of environmental concerns, some 2.952mn boepd of oil, NGLs and gas in LNG producers
as mentioned in EurOil. The fight, involving a the third quarter of 2020, up by 5.35% on the
potential supply deal that France’s Engie was second-quarter figure of 2.802mn boepd. It to strike new
reportedly due to strike with the US’ NextDec- attributed the rise to the rapid restoration of
ade before it was delayed by political pressure, development operations at fields that suspended off-take deals
illustrates the greater environmental challenges production in response to the coronavirus
LNG producers may have to contend with in the (COVID-19) pandemic. are running into
future. Venezuela, by contrast, is under considerable obstacles
Qatar, meanwhile, has taken another step pressure. The country has informed OPEC that
forward by reportedly selected Honeywell as it produced 397,000 bpd of oil in September. This
the main instrument and control contractor to is the lowest monthly figure recorded since 2003
support the North Field East expansion project. and is also considerably below this year’s record
In another illustration of the growing impor- high of 882,000 bpd in January. Output levels
tance of environmental issues to the industry, have been trending down since the beginning of
state-owned Qatar Petroleum (QP) has also the year and are not likely to recover any time
sought to talk up the comparative low emis- soon.
sions-intensity of its expanded LNG operations. This decline has occurred partly because the
The company is building a carbon capture and US sanctions regime has prevented state-owned
storage (CCS) facility to capture carbon dioxide PdVSA from obtaining the parts and equip-
(CO2) from its LNG production. ment needed to repair and maintain its produc-
These developments raise questions about tion and refining facilities. Sanctions have also
how Australia – where LNG plants are typically impaired Venezuela’s ability to sell its crude on
more carbon-intensive than similar facilities in world markets, as evidenced by the fact that the
other parts of the world – will deal with their car- country’s oil inventories have risen by 84% over
bon footprint in an increasingly environmentally the last few weeks.
conscious world.
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping the Latin American oil and gas sector then please click
the global LNG sector then please click here for here for NewsBase’s LatAmOil Monitor.

Week 43 28•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9