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Exxon finds oil, gas in Argentina’s shale

BUENOS AIRES, May 22 (UPI) –U.S. energy company Exxon Mobil said its affiliate in Argentina discovered oil and natural gas in the Vaca Muerta shale play in the country’s Neuquen province. ExxonMobil Exploration Argentina, alongside its regional partner, said it was carrying out additional analysis at the Bajo del Choique X-2 well after confirming an oil and gas discovery. Appraisal wells will need to be drilled before Exxon makes a commercial decision on the area, but the company expressed optimism about the potential. "Not all shales are alike, so our first Exxon Mobil-operated discovery in the Vaca Muerta play is a very positive sign that the shale in this area of Neuquen province holds great promise as a liquids-rich unconventional resource for Argentina," Stephen Greenlee, president of Exxon Mobil Exploration Co. said in a statement Wednesday. The U.S. Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration estimates Argentina has 774 trillion cubic […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Exxon finds oil, gas in Argentina's shale

BUENOS AIRES, May 22 (UPI) –U.S. energy company Exxon Mobil said its affiliate in Argentina discovered oil and natural gas in the Vaca Muerta shale play in the country’s Neuquen province. ExxonMobil Exploration Argentina, alongside its regional partner, said it was carrying out additional analysis at the Bajo del Choique X-2 well after confirming an oil and gas discovery. Appraisal wells will need to be drilled before Exxon makes a commercial decision on the area, but the company expressed optimism about the potential. "Not all shales are alike, so our first Exxon Mobil-operated discovery in the Vaca Muerta play is a very positive sign that the shale in this area of Neuquen province holds great promise as a liquids-rich unconventional resource for Argentina," Stephen Greenlee, president of Exxon Mobil Exploration Co. said in a statement Wednesday. The U.S. Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration estimates Argentina has 774 trillion cubic […]

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Petrobras sets daily production record in Brazil’s offshore presalt

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has surpassed 470,000 b/d in the presalt layer of the Santos and Campos basins offshore Brazil, a new daily production record according to the company. The milestone was reached with production from 24 wells, including 7-LL-22D-RJS, which was brought on stream on May 9 and is now contributing 31,000 b/d. Petrobras attributes a portion of its success in the Santos and Campos presalt to the use of a buoyancy supported riser (BSR) that connects 7-LL-22D-RJS to the Cidade de Paraty floating production, storage, and offloading vessel in Lula field. This ascending production pipeline is suspended from a submerged buoy and has led to above-average production from the new well and two other wells that attach to the Cidade de Sao Paulo FPSO via BSRs in Sapinhoa field, the company said. Petrobras expects to connect several new wells to both FPSOs with BSRs by this year’s […]

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Argentine Provinces Said to Unite Against YPF License Bid

The three provinces holding Argentina’s largest shale oil and gas deposits will jointly challenge a push by federally owned YPF SA (YPF) to take control of the auction and renewal of licenses, three officials said. Jorge Sapag, Francisco Perez and Martin Buzzi — governors of Neuquen, Mendoza and Chubut, respectively — met in Buenos Aires on May 13 and agreed to impel their congressional representatives to oppose any move to federalize licensing processes, the provincial officials briefed on the matter said. They asked not to be identified because the talks were private. The three governors weren’t available to comment, their assistants said by telephone. Alejandro Di Lazzaro, a YPF spokesman in Buenos Aires, declined to comment. The fight underscores political tensions derived from unclear rules governing Argentina’s nascent shale boom. For prospective license holders, a single federal system would remove the need to negotiate with two levels of government. […]

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Venezuela Arrests 243 in Raids on Antigovernment Protest Camps

Security forces arrested 243 people in Caracas on Thursday as they dismantled four protest camps set up in the Venezuelan capital by demonstrators opposed to the government of President Nicolás Maduro, and a policeman was fatally shot in clashes that followed, officials said. In Washington, senators condemned the mass arrests during a hearing of the Foreign Relations Committee on human rights violations in Venezuela . The raids broke a period of relative calm in Caracas, where the intensity of the protests had cooled significantly. After the camps were overtaken, groups of people formed barricades and burned trash in the streets. Soldiers and police fired tear gas and plastic buckshot. Officials later said that an officer had been shot and killed.. According to the interior and justice minister, Miguel Rodríguez Torres, National Guard troops and the National Police staged the 3 a.m. raids on the camps, which were located in […]

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Ecuador Says No National Referendum on New Amazon Oil Development

Ecuador’s national electoral council said Tuesday that opponents of new oil development in a national park in the Amazon rain forest failed to submit enough valid signatures to force a nationwide referendum. The electoral council said that only 359,761 signatures of the 756,000 that were submitted by a coalition opposed to the oil activity passed the validation process. The law required them to collect 584,000 signatures, which is equivalent to 5% of the electorate, to force a referendum on the issue. The announcement appears to be a victory for President Rafael Correa and his plans to drill for oil in an area known as the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini, or the ITT block. A portion of the block is located in the Yasuni national park, which is considered by scientists to be one of the most biologically diverse spots in the world. The president of the electoral council, Domingo […]

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Marxist Rebel Bombings Send Colombia Oil Output to 20-Month Low

Colombian crude production sank to a 20-month low in April as Marxist rebel attacks and community protests curbed output amid continuing peace talks in Havana . Oil production last month averaged 935,000 barrels per day, according to a government statement yesterday, the lowest since August 2012. Output slumped as repairs to the country’s second-largest pipeline following a March 25 rebel attack were prevented by the indigenous U’wa group. Paralysis at the Cano Limon-Covenas duct, which takes oil from eastern Colombia to the Caribbean coast, forced producers including state-controlled Ecopetrol SA (ECOPETL) to restrict output as storage ran out. Oil is Colombia’s biggest export and a key source of revenue for the government. There were 33 pipeline attacks in the first quarter of this year and a total of 259 in 2013, as Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, seeks to strengthen its hand […]

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Colombia Warns of Emergency Decree for Pipeline Standoff

A monthlong standoff with a forest-dwelling indigenous group is threatening Colombian oil exports and may force the government to declare a national emergency, Mines and Energy Minister Amylkar Acosta said. Members of Colombia ’s U’wa group are preventing repairs to the Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline following an attack by Marxist rebels March 25, cutting exports by more than 2.5 million barrels, Acosta said. The country’s second biggest pipeline is controlled by state-run Ecopetrol SA. “This almost merits a declaration of emergency by the national government,” Acosta told local radio station Caracol today. “There are reasons of state, and there’s a public interest that takes precedence.” A emergency declaration would give Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos powers to rule by decree for 30 days and potentially overrule standard protocol when dealing with local groups. Royalties from oil, Colombia’s biggest export, are a key source of revenue for the government, currently battling […]

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Venezuela’s Oil Heads East

The late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez used to berate the old management of state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) for sending oil to Europe. Chávez, who died in March 2013, said PDVSA’s sales to Germany, the U.K., and Sweden made no commercial sense because of the distance involved and the proximity of Middle East suppliers to European customers. Fast-forward 15 years, and PDVSA is firmly in the hands of the late president’s adherents. Last year, PDVSA sent more oil to Asia than to North America, the first time in the company’s history, even though it takes a month for Venezuelan crude to reach China and India. Sales to Asia rose 11 percent to about 1.03 million barrels a day, while sales to North America, chiefly the U.S., fell 12 percent to 879,000 bbl. per day. Today, Chávez’s old criticisms about the wisdom of having far-flung markets are forgotten, as his successors […]

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In Venezuela, Protesters Point to Their Scars

Clipso Martínez was shot at such close range by a soldier at a protest that his surgeon said he had to remove pieces of the plastic shotgun shell buried in his leg, along with the shards of keys Mr. Martínez had in his pocket, shattered by the blast. Jorchual Gregory was detained with 10 others who said that over three days they were kicked, pistol whipped, doused with pepper spray and battered with helmets and shotgun butts. “They wanted to make people afraid so we wouldn’t stay in the streets,” said Mr. Gregory, 19. “But what happened was more protests and more deaths.” Venezuela has been shaken by more than two months of often violent protests that President Nicolás Maduro says are designed to overthrow him. He has held the opposition responsible for violence that the government says has claimed more than 40 lives, including those […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple