Pacific Exploration Seeks Creditor Protection in Canada
Pacific Exploration & Production Corp and its units filed for protection from creditors in Canada after failing to cope with a prolonged slump in oil prices. The company missed an interest payment due on March 28, making it the first Toronto-listed oil and gas company in the past one year to delay a payment. Pacific Exploration reached a deal with debtholders, including Catalyst Capital Group Inc, last week to convert almost all of its debt to equity. The company, formerly known as Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp…
Pacific Exploration Lenders Waive Net Worth Covenant
Canadian oil and gas producer Pacific Exploration and Production Corp said its lenders agreed to waive off a covenant that requires it to maintain above $1 billion in net worth, amid a slump in oil prices. The waivers are effective for about $1.43 billion in debt facility and will terminate on Dec. 28, the company said on Tuesday. The approval of the waivers were in the best interest of the company due to a sharp decline in crude oil prices, as it continues to reduce costs and sell non-core assets, CEO Ronald Pantin said.
Petroperu saw more risk, less profit in large oil block
Peru's state-owned energy company Petroperu opted not to take a stake in the country's biggest oil block as expected because the short-term contract signed this week would mean more risk and less profit, the firm said Friday. Petroperu said in June that it would likely exercise its option to take a stake of up to 25 percent in block 192 as allowed under a law designed to strengthen the company, which has not produced oil in more than 20 years. But an auction for a 30-year concession on the block failed to draw any bids earlier this month amid slumping oil prices and thorny government talks with communities…
Peru Gives Canadian Firm 2-year Contract for Biggest Oil Block
Peru will give Pacific Exploration and Production Corporation a two-year service contract for developing the country's biggest oil block, state regulator Perupetro said Friday. The Canadian company, which changed its name from Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp last week, will take over oil block 192 after current operator Pluspetrol's contract expires in eight days. A deal was reached through private talks after a 30-year contract for the concession failed to draw any bids in an auction last month.
Colombia Oil Reserves Down 5.6%
Colombia's reserves of crude oil were down 5.6 percent to 2.3 billion barrels at the end of last year, the mines and energy ministry said on Friday, due to attacks by leftist rebels on infrastructure and the global fall in crude prices. Reserves, equal to 6.4 years of output at the country's current production rate, were down from 2.4 billion in 2013. The Andean nation, where taxes and royalties from oil make up 20 percent of government revenue, has been battered by the global fall in prices. Crude is the country's largest export and source of foreign exchange.
Nearly Half Colombia Oil Companies at Risk of Insolvency
Forty-three percent of companies in Colombia's oil sector are at high risk of going bankrupt as the industry reels from the recent halving of oil prices, according to a survey presented to the Andean country's congress this week. The survey by the Colombia's companies' regulator polled 53 companies with total assets of about $10 billion but it did not include state-run oil producer Ecopetrol or two Toronto-listed companies, Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp and Canacol Energy Ltd. The regulator did not say why those three companies were excluded…
Alfa Shares Rise After Joint Venture Deal
Shares in Alfa rose as much as 3 percent in early trading on Thursday before easing after it said it had signed a preliminary deal with Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. to create a 50/50 joint venture to invest in Mexican energy projects. Alfa said on Thursday that the new company would look at bidding in Mexico's initial round of oil and gas projects and eventually at doing exploration and production. Alfa said at the end of the third quarter that it owned 17 percent Pacific Rubiales, which is Colombia's No. 2 crude producer, operating in partnership with national oil company Ecopetrol SA.
Alfa Seeks to Raise Capital For Energy Projects
Mexican conglomerate Alfa said on Monday it wanted to issue more shares to invest in Mexican energy projects in the areas of shale gas, conventional hydrocarbons and electricity, according to a stock exchange filing. Shareholders will vote on the proposal at an extraordinary meeting on Nov. 4, the company said. It did not specify the size of the capital raise. Earlier this year, Mexico finalized an energy reform which ends the decades-old monopolies of state-owned oil company Pemex and national power company CFE, aiming to lure billions of dollars in investment.
Pacific Rubiales, Pemex Ink 3-Year Pact
Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp, Colombia's largest private oil producer, on Friday said it had signed a three-year deal to analyze potential oil and gas cooperation in Mexico with Pemex, that country's state oil company. The deal will include analysis of exploration, deep-water projects, mature fields and other activities, Pacific Rubiales said in a statement. "We expect Mexico will be a significant driver of future growth for Pacific Rubiales and are committed to further advancing our plans in the country," Ronald Pantin, chief executive officer of Toronto-listed Pacific Rubiales, said in the statement.
Oil Companies Bidding for Blocks in Colombia
Oil companies were bidding on Wednesday for 95 oil areas Colombia is offering for exploration and production in an effort to raise output from around 1 million barrels per day and increase stagnant reserves. Rights for the onshore, offshore and nonconventional or shale oil areas will be awarded to bidders who offer the largest share of production to the government or based on how much companies commit to invest in lesser-explored regions. The government said earlier this year it hoped to attract $2.6 billion in investment into the oil sector through the so-called Colombia Round 2014.
Ecospeed to Coat EXMAR Caribbean FLNG
In order to tap into Colombian stranded gas reserves, Pacific Rubiales Energy Corporation and EXMAR nv have partnered in a project to build and operate a floating LNG liquefaction, and storage unit, the Caribbean FLNG, which will be stationed at a jetty several kilometers off the Caribbean coast of Colombia for at least 15 years. In order to protect the hull of the Caribbean FLNG, keep it clean and facilitate class inspections over that time period without recourse to drydock and without causing harm to the local marine environment…
