(Argus, 26.Aug.2021) — Brazilian producers need to increase the amount of natural gas they offer in order to stimulate investment in gas infrastructure and boost demand, said Marcelo Mendonça, strategy and market director at the Brazilian Association for piped gas distributors (Abegás). Around 15mn m³/d (529.5mn cf/d) that is being […]
Category: Latin America and the Caribbean
Excelerate Energy Advances On Leasing Of Bahia LNG Terminal
(Excelerate, 26.Aug.2021) — Excelerate Energy L.P. successfully concluded with Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) the negotiation stage of the tender process for the lease of Bahia Regasification Terminal. Once the financial and legal qualification and certification stages have been concluded and all necessary regulatory approvals have been obtained, Excelerate will start […]
Peru’s Pushes Cabinet Confirmation Vote To Friday
(Reuters, 26.Aug.2021) — Peru’s Congress on Thursday pushed back to Friday a key vote to confirm or reject a new leftist Cabinet nominated by President Pedro Castillo, extending the uncertainty in a country where conflicts between the executive and legislature loom large. Castillo, who took office just last month, is […]
Ecuador To Spend $80mn On Thermal Power Stations
(Reuters, 26.Aug.2021) — Ecuador’s state-run power company CELEC said on Thursday it will spend $80 million to repair idle thermal power plants to prepare them to provide backup electricity supply, as raging river erosion threatens its massive Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant. CELEC said the $80 million will recover some […]
Petrobras Pays Dividends
(Energy Analytics Institute, 25.Aug.2021) — Brazil’s state owned Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) made a payment today which relates to the first installment of the remuneration anticipation to shareholders related to fiscal year 2021, the company announced 25 August 2021 in an official statement. The gross amount distributed of R$ 21,000,003,096.30 […]
Petrobras Inks Deal To Divest REMAN Refinery
(Petrobras, 25.Aug.2021) — Petrobras signed today with the company Ream Participações S.A., a corporate company owned by the partners of Atem’s Distribuidora de Petróleo S.A. (Atem), a contract to sell the shares of the company that will own the Isaac Sabbá Refinery (REMAN) and its associated logistics assets, in the […]
Petrobras On RNEST Divestment
(Petrobras, 25.Aug.2021) — Petrobras says interested parties in the sale process of the Abreu e Lima Refinery (RNEST) formally declined to submit a binding proposal for the purchase of the refinery. Therefore, the company is carrying out the internal procedures to end the sale process underway and will evaluate its […]
Mantaro To Buy Into Golden Hill Property
(Mantoro 25.Aug.2021) — Mantoro Silver Corp. (TSXV: MSLV) (FSE: 9TZ) entered into a property option agreement with Minera Golden Hill S.R.L. (MGH) and Luis Fernando Kinn Cortez (the “Optionor”) to acquire up to an 80% interest in the advanced Golden Hill Property, located in the underexplored, orogenic Bolivian Shied, Bolivia. […]
Shell Signs First Natural-Gas Supply Contract In Brazil
(Wall Street Journal, 25.Aug.2021) — Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Wednesday that it has signed a natural-gas sales contract with Companhia Pernambucana de Gas, its first supply deal with a Brazilian estate distributor. The Anglo-Dutch energy giant said the two-year agreement is to supply 750,0000 cubic meters a day from […]
Coltan In Your Smartphone Finances Colombian Guerrilla Armies
(Vice, 25.Aug.2021) — A recent seizure highlights how “corrupt Colombian government officials have helped to launder Venezuelan coltan into licit supply chains in Colombia,” said one expert. Authorities in southern Colombia pulled over a cargo truck looking for drugs in early August. But instead of finding a pile of cocaine […]
Venezuela Sees Refinery Debt Swap As Model For Future Deals
(Reuters, 25.Aug.2021) — Venezuela’s socialist government sees the swap it made last week of shares in a Dominican oil refinery for defaulted bonds as a possible model for future deals, as it seeks to mend ties with creditors, four people familiar with the operation said. Such debt-for-equity swaps are common […]
Mexico Restores Some Oil Production
(AP, 24.Aug.2021) — Mexico’s state-owned oil company said Tuesday the possible remains of two missing subcontractors had been found on one of its oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico following a weekend fire. Petroleos Mexicanos said it had restored about 17% of the lost production caused by the fire […]
Crude From Venezuela, Iran Stacks Up Off Singapore
(Bloomberg, 24.Aug.2021) — Oil stored in ships has been stacking up off key Asian ports as a crackdown in China on private crude oil processors has blunted purchases and disrupted flows, including some U.S.-sanctioned barrels from Iran. Vessels off Singapore, Malaysia and China had about 62 million barrels last week […]
Venezuela Swapped Oil For Food, Then Punished Dealmakers
(Reuters, 24.Aug.2021) — With U.S. sanctions spooking key oil buyers and depriving its government of cash, Venezuela last year inked a deal with a little-known local company to swap crude for food, Reuters has learned. That agreement saw state oil company PDVSA, beginning in December 2020, deliver more than 6 […]
Suriname Webinar On O&G Local Content
(Energy Analytics Institute, 24.Aug.2021) — Staatsolie in cooperation with ExxonMobil will be hosting a webinar on ‘Local Content in the O&G industry’. As a supplier who can potentially provide support to oil and gas operations, you are cordially invited to participate in this webinar. Date: Wednesday 1 September 2021 Time: […]
Companies Take Steps Toward Climate Neutrality
(Bloomberg, 24.Aug.2021) — Unlike the other oil majors, nationalized fossil fuel businesses are arms of the state, and therefore can’t bend as far. Petroleos Mexicanos left investors with more questions than answers after it announced in late July that it would be disclosing its greenhouse gas emissions on a more […]
Pemex Safety Incidents Challenge Production Growth Target
(Fitch, 24.Aug.2021) — Pemex‘s reported fires at its Ku-Maloob-Zaap (KMZ) production fields may slow the company’s production growth rates, as this field is the company’s largest production complex, according to Fitch Ratings. Fitch’s current rating case assumes that the company’s production levels will stabilize going forward due to increased investments […]
LatAm Briefs: Guyana’s Oil Output
(Energy Analytics Institute, 23.Aug.2021) — Energy briefs from the Latin America and Caribbean region including: Argentina awaiting arrival of two LNG tankers, Guyana’s oil output, and Trinidad and Tobago’s strategic plan. Argentina — Argentina’s two LNG import terminals at Bahía Blanca and Escobar both expect to receive tankers to discharge […]
bpTT/EOG Make 1 Tcf Gas Discovery
(The Guardian, 23.Aug.2021) — An exploration well drilled by bpTT and EOG Resources has discovered one trillion cubic feet of gross natural gas resources, off the East Coast, off Trinidad according to documents from both companies. Confidential documents from bpTT which Guardian Media has copies of and which were presented […]
YPF to Defend Interests in Lawsuit Regarding Shareholder Meeting
(Energy Analytics Institute, 23.Aug.2021) — In compliance with requirements of article 3, item 9, Chapter I, Title XII of the Rules of the Argentine Securities and Exchange Commission, state owned YPF S.A. must inform of each and every judicial proceeding brought against it by its shareholders and the relevant decisions […]
Frontera Spuds Kawa-1 Offshore Guyana
(Frontera, 23.Aug.2021) — Frontera Energy Corporation (TSX: FEC) announced the spudding of the Kawa-1 exploration well, offshore Guyana. CGX Energy Inc. (TSXV: OYL), Frontera majority-owned subsidiary, and its joint venture partner in the Demerara and Corentyne blocks, also separately announced an update on spud of the Kawa-1 well. Additionally, the […]
Citgo Envisions Oil ‘Bridge’ To Venezuela
(Argus, 23.Aug.2021) — US refiner Citgo has been effectively cut off from its Venezuelan state-owned parent PdV since 2019, but it is still constrained by heavy debt while multiple creditors nip at its heels. In the first part of a two-part interview, chief executive Carlos Jordá spoke with senior contributing […]
LatAm Briefs: Guyana-Suriname Basin Reserves
(Energy Analytics Institute, 21.Aug.2021) — Energy briefs from the Latin America and Caribbean region including: Argentina pondering its allocation of energy subsidies, Ecopetrol closing on an earlier announced $3.7bn ISA deal, reserves in the Guyana-Suriname Basin continuing to rise, and trafficking of coltan rising between Colombia and Venezuela, and much […]
Ecopetrol closes ISA transaction
(Piero Stewart, Energy Analytics Institute, 20.Aug.2021) — Colombia’s state oil giant Ecopetrol S.A. announced on 20 Aug. 2021 that closing conditions set forth in the inter-administrative contract, dated 11 August, between the Bogotá-based company and the Colombian Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (MHCP by its Spanish acronym) were satisfactorily […]
Guyana, Suriname Eye Jointly Developments
(DPI, 19.Aug.2021) — Recognising the vast potential of Guyana and Suriname’s oil and gas sectors, their Excellencies Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali and Chandrikapersad Santokhi have indicated that the two countries will jointly strategise the development of this critical and lucrative sector. During engagements with the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and […]
LatAm Countries To Discuss Climate Actions
(Governmenf of Panama, 20.Aug.2021) — The Governments of Argentina, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Panama will co-organize the “High-Level Dialogue on Climate Action in the Americas”, on 8 September 2021. The event will bring together representatives of governments, private and financial sector, multilateral financial institutions , […]
Actis sells Saavi Energia to Global Infrastructure Partners
(By Global Infrastructure Partners, 20.Aug.2021, Word: 482) — Actis, a leading global investor in sustainable infrastructure jointly announces with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a leading global independent infrastructure investor that it has sold 100% of Saavi Energía, the fourth largest independent power producer and the largest privately held stand-alone power […]
Emerging Oil Nations Reject Climate Curbs On Exploration
(Reuters, 19.Aug.2021) — The world’s newest oil-producing nations grabbed the spotlight at this week’s Offshore Technology Conference with ambitious plans to tap oil and gas discoveries in a race against a global energy transition to lower-carbon fuels. At the conference highlighting renewable and cleaner-burning fuels and investors moving bets away […]
Exxon’s Guyana Drilling ‘Poses Major Environmental Risk’
(The Guardian, 19.Aug.2021) — ExxonMobil’s huge new Guyana project faces charges of a disregard for safety from experts who claim the company has failed to adequately prepare for possible disaster, the Guardian and Floodlight have found. Exxon has been extracting oil from Liza 1, an ultra-deepwater drilling operation, since 2019 […]
Sorcia Minerals Adds New Salar In Chile
(Sorcia, 19.Aug.2021) — Sorcia Chile SPA (Sorcia), a subsidiary of the US company, Sorcia Minerals LLC, reached a new agreement with RJR Salar, to expand the territory to explore lithium reserves in 9,000 hectares of the Salar de Tambo, near the town of Colchane, border with Bolivia. The agreement is […]
Brazil In Talks With Argentina for Gas Pipeline from Vaca Muerta
(Reuters, 19.Aug.2021) — Brazil is negotiating with Argentina on the construction of a billion-dollar pipeline from the Vaca Muerta shale gas reserves, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday. Speaking to supporters on social media, he said the gas pipeline from Argentina was one of the options his government is […]
Braskem Offering Back On The Table
(Bloomberg, 19.Aug.2021) — A public equity offering is again emerging as a possible exit strategy for the controlling shareholders in one of the world’s top petrochemical makers, Braskem SA, people familiar with the matter said. Novonor hired Morgan Stanley as the group previously known as Odebrecht looks to sell its […]
Climate Change Behind BHP/Woodside Merger
(Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, 19.Aug.2021) — Two former ministers of energy are contending that climate-change policy is what would have driven the merger between the BHP Group and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. Kevin Ramnarine and Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, responding to the announcement by the two Australian outfits, said the merger itself is […]
Guyana, Suriname Reveal Joint Gas Development Strategy
(S&P Global, 19.Aug.2021) — The presidents of Guyana and Suriname said Aug. 19 their countries will craft a joint strategy to develop their natural gas reserves to fuel their economic development, as well as to supply Brazil, their large southern neighbor. “Through the gas strategy, we will be working on […]
PDVSA Cedes Stake In Refidomsa Refinery
(Reuters, 19.Aug.2021) — Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has given up its 49% stake in a Dominican refinery as part of a swap for some of its defaulted bonds, the Dominican Republic’s finance ministry and Venezuela’s oil minister said in statements on Thursday. The transaction represents a small breakthrough between […]
S&P Maintains Ecopetrol Rating At BB+
(Ecopetrol, 18.Aug.2021) — Ecopetrol S.A. (BVC: ECOPETROL; NYSE; EC) announced that the risk rating agency Standard & Poor’s maintained the international long-term rating of Ecopetrol at BB+ and the individual credit rating (Stand Alone) at ‘bbb- ‘, with stable outlook. The agency highlighted the company’s strategic relevance for Colombia and the […]
Guyana, Suriname Eye Further Drilling
(Reuters, 18.Aug.2021) — Guyana and Suriname expect continued exploratory drilling over the next two years by oil majors in their joint offshore basin after a string of recent discoveries, government officials and corporate executives said at a conference on Wednesday. The neighboring South American countries, along with Brazil, attracted the […]
Jagdeo: Developed Countries Must Help In Climate Fight
(DPI, 18.Aug.2021) — Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo MP, has issued a clarion call for developed countries to pull their weight in the fight against climate change. The Vice President made this appeal Tuesday night, during his feature address to the Rice University: Baker Institute Centre for Energy Studies with […]
Guyana Eyes Oil Developments, Rising Per Capita Income
(Energy Analytics Institute, 17.Aug.2021) — Guyana’s Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo took part in the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) held in Houston between 16-19 August 2021. What follows are brief details from his discussion on 17 August during a panel entitled “Guyana: An Emerging Oil Industry in the Context of Net […]
Guyana Seeks Higher Royalties
(Reuters, 17.Aug.2021) — Guyana aims to increase its oil royalties and revamp other contract terms as part of a new profit-sharing agreement (PSA) for future crude and gas projects now in its draft stage, the South American nation’s vice president said on Tuesday. The tiny country has become one of […]
Shale Oil Investments May Be Protected From Nationalization
(Baker Institute, 17.Aug.2021) — Shale oil’s short-cycle production protects foreign investors from the risk of expropriation — government taking private property for public use — providing an opportunity for the increasingly risk-averse global petroleum industry, according to a new report. The paper, “Shale Renders the ‘Obsolescing Bargain’ Obsolete: Political risk […]
Orvana Reports El Valle Plant Stoppage
(Orvana, 16.Aug.2021) — Orvana Minerals Corp. (TSX: ORV) announces that a rock fall has occurred at a legacy open pit wall at El Valle. The fallen material impacted the east sector of the Tailings Storage Facility (“TSF”), without structural damages. No individuals were harmed, and no environmental damages have been […]
Ecopetrol Gets Go Ahead For $4bn Loan For ISA Acquisition
(Ecopetrol, 16.Aug.2021) — Ecopetrol S.A. (BVC: ECOPETROL;NYSE: EC) informs that by means of Resolution 1928 of 13 August 2021, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (MHCP) authorized the company to enter into an external credit loan with international banks for up to four billion dollars ($4bn), whose exclusive purpose […]
Cox Energy Establishes IR Vice Presidency Office
(Cox Energy, 16.Aug.2021) — Cox Energy América, S.A.B. DE C.V. (BIVA: COXA *, BMV: COXA *), the region’s only listed pure play photovoltaic renewable solar energy company, announces as part of its market communication strategy, and following best corporate practices, the establishment of the Investor Relations Vice President position, headed […]
Guyana-Suriname Basin OTC2021 Technical Panel Summary
(Energy Analytics Institute, 16.Aug.2021) — Executives with ExxonMobil provided technical details of the company’s initial, current and planned activities in Guyana. What follows are excerpts from their presentations during the Offshore Technology Conference 2021 (16-19 August) in Houston, Texas. ExxonMobil, Audrey Varga — Outline of Guyana-Suriname exploration history: Standard Oil, […]
Guyana Contingent Attends #OTC2021
(DPI, 16.Aug.2021) — This is Guyana’s second time participating at this international conference in Houston, Texas. The Government of Guyana through GO-Invest, is collaborating with several private sector organisations and businesses which comprises its delegation at OTC 2021. The contingent comprises: Vice President, Hon. Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo; Minister of Foreign […]
LatAm Briefs: YPF Debt, Petrobras Taxes
(Energy Analytics Institute, 13.Aug.2021) — Energy briefs from the Latin America and Caribbean region including: YPF reducing its total debt, Petrobras’ tax collections to the government, Exxon’s Liza Unity FPSO prepares to leave Singapore, National Enterprises Limited (NEL) writes down the fair value of its indirect stake in Atlantic LNG […]
Sempra Launches Offer For Remaining IEnova Shares
(Sempra, 12.Aug.2021) — Sempra (NYSE: SRE) (BMV: SRE) announced that it has launched a tender offer to purchase for cash the 3.6% of the outstanding shares of IEnova (Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.B de C.V.) that are not owned by Sempra. This cash tender offer follows Sempra’s completed exchange offer for […]
MPC Energy Starts Construction Of PV Plant In Colombia
(MPC Energy, 12.Aug.2021) — MPC Energy Solutions (MPCES) and Akuo Energy commenced construction of Parque Solar Planeta Rica, a solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Colombia. The project is a joint venture with Akuo Energy, a leading French developer and operator of renewable energy projects. “The start of the construction of […]
Venezuela Negotiations By Eric Farnsworth
(AS/COA, 12.Aug.2021) — A new round of negotiations is set to start on Friday, August 13, in Mexico between representatives of the de facto regime of Nicolás Maduro and the interim administration of Juan Guaidó. This is not the first time negotiations have been attempted, and expectations for meaningful democratic progress are modest. AS/COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth breaks down […]