1. Shell, Total Energy emerge as winners in Brazil’s latest oil tender
Last Wednesday, Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency, the Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) held the third round of public tenders for open acreage under the franchise model. The conference offered 59 exploration blocks, including several blocks in the Santos Basin and several blocks in the Potiguar Basin.
Among them, Shell and the Colombian state-owned oil company Ecopetrol jointly won the exploration rights of 6 blocks in the Santos Basin, TotalEnergies won the exploration rights of 2 blocks in the Santos Basin, and Brazil’s 3R Petroleum Company won the exploration rights of six blocks in the Portigua Basin exploration licenses for the blocks.
Brazil is one of the top ten oil producers in the world, and currently, the daily output is about 3 million barrels. Brazil has a strong desire to increase production. It is reported that the auction received a signed amount of 90.1 million US dollars, a premium of more than 800%. Exploration of these blocks could attract investment of around $86.5 million (R$406.3 million).
2. Russian tanker company Sovcomflot to close its Cyprus operations
Russian tanker operator Sovcomflot PJSC will close its payments center in Cyprus until May 15 amid sanctions over the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Sovcomflot is Russia’s main transporter of oil and LNG, operating around 110 tankers. Sovcomflot has faced growing challenges in signing leases since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict erupted on February 24, as ports, end buyers, marine insurers and other freight companies pulled out of their Russian operations.
3. Petrobras gets $1.12 billion compensation from Shell
Brazilian oil giant Petrobras has received $1.12 billion from Shell’s Brazilian subsidiary as compensation for a 25 percent stake in the Atapu block.
The Atapu block is 52.5% owned by Petrobras, 25% by Shell and the remaining 22.5% by TotalEnergies.
The Atapu field is a pre-salt field located in the Santos Basin with water depths of approximately 6,500 feet. The project started in 2020 with the first floating, production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO) reaching a production level of 160,000 barrels per day.
Atapu is part of an area estimated to hold 15 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil and is already producing oil, according to a study by Houston-based consultancy Gaffney, Cline & Associates..
4. U.S. wind power surpasses coal and nuclear for the first time ever
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Thursday that wind power became the second-largest source of electricity in the U.S. on March 29, behind natural gas and ahead of coal and nuclear power for the first time.
EIA’s hourly grid monitoring shows wind turbines generating 201.7 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in the contiguous 48 states on March 29
Post time: Apr-21-2022