Thai energy ministry sets March target to resolve Chevron dispute
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hailand’s energy ministry said it had set a March target to resolve a $2 billion dispute with U.S. oil and gas major Chevron Corp and would make the “utmost effort” to reach a deal after the company halted arbitration. The dispute resulted from a retroactive Thai law in 2016 requiring gas field operators to pay the costs of decommissioning assets they have installed even if they no longer operate them. “This negotiation will require our utmost effort because it concerns national interests,” permanent-secretary Kulit Sombatsiri said. “We have up to 180 days to work it out,” Kulit said, adding that the time frame was stipulated by law.
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Exxon to make $500 mln initial investment in Mozambique LNG project
xxon Mobil plans to invest more than $500 million in the initial construction phase of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique. The U.S. oil company’s $30 billion Rovuma LNG project, jointly operated with Italy’s Eni, has a capacity of more than 15 million tonnes a year (mtpa) and is set pump much-needed cash into the southern African nation’s ailing economy. “The Area 4 partners will advance midstream and upstream area project activities of more than $500 million as initial investments,” Exxon head of power and gas marketing Peter Clarke said. Construction of onshore facilities has been awarded to a consortium led by Japan’s JGC, U.K firm TechnipFMC and U.S. company Fluor Corp. “These EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contracts cover the construction of two natural gas production trains with a total capacity of 15.2 million tons per annum, as well as associated onshore facilities,” Clarke said. Final investment decisions, a term used by the oil industry to mean the commercial and regulatory aspects of a project are finalized, would be made in 2020, Clarke said.
Petrobras removes 133 tonnes of oil from Brazil,s beaches, CEO says
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tate-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro has collected 133 tonnes of oil along Brazil’s northeastern shoreline, Chief Executive Roberto Castello Branco said, in an unexplained mystery he said was worrying. Speaking with lawmakers, he said the company had not identified any of its own oil in its analyses. He also said that, in order to maintain stable production, Petrobras, as the company is known, needed new reserves of 1 billion barrels per year, at a cost of $3 billion.
16 Petroleum Today - October 2019
