Wednesday, April 2, 2025

State Energy News

Exports of crude oil by Mexico's Pemex rose 33% from January to February

The crude oil exports of the Mexican state energy company Pemex increased 33% from January to February, recovering from the drop in the previous month but still being down 25% when compared with February 2024. Pemex published data late Tuesday showing that crude exports reached 709,793 barrels a day (bpd) in February. About 60%, or 428 357 bpd of these exports went to the United States. The majority of this was the Maya heavy crude blend.

Ecopetrol executive: We are looking to expand our in-house energy production to include wind power.

Ecopetrol, Colombia's state energy company, is looking at new investments, including purchasing projects run by multinationals to meet its own energy needs. A company vice president revealed this on Wednesday. Julian Lemos is Ecopetrol's vice president of strategy and new business. He said that the plan would look to integrate wind power projects into the company's energy matrix which already includes solar. Lemos said at an energy conference held in Cartagena, a Caribbean city.

Mexican tycoon Slim targets two of Pemex’s key fields to gain clout within the energy sector

Sources familiar with the matter say that the Mexican state energy company Pemex has been in contact with Carlos Slim, and the billionaire could be asked to help fund two of the most promising crude oil fields and natural gas deposits in the country. These negotiations, which were not previously reported, show Slim's increasing influence in Mexico's energy sector. His business empire, which includes telecommunications and banking, retail, insurance, and hospitality, is expanding.

Exports of crude oil by Mexico's Pemex fell 44% in January

Official numbers reveal that crude oil exports from the Mexican state energy company Pemex fell 44% in January, compared to last year, to 532 404 barrels per daily (bpd), their lowest level in decades. The company admits it has been struggling with crude's quality. The level for January is the lowest monthly since records began in their present form in 1990. Exports were just above 811,000 bpd last year and just over 1 million bpd the year before.

Pemex CEO: Buyers of Mexican crude oil complain about salt and water content

The CEO of the state energy company Pemex, Victor Rodriguez, said that buyers have complained about the water and salt content in Mexico's crude oil over the last month. When asked by a journalist during her morning press conference if some platforms produced crude oil with higher than usual salt and water contents, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged this but said that it was only temporary. She said, "We do not have problems with Pemex or oil production. Rodriguez, who spoke with Energy Minister Luz E.

Mexico's Pemex, billionaire Slim renegotiate deepwater gas project

Five sources with knowledge of the situation said that the team of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and the state energy company Pemex were discussing significant changes to the deal to develop Mexico's first deepwater gas field. Grupo Carso, Slim's Mexican holding firm, signed a partnership agreement with Pemex last year in order to jointly develop the Lakach oil field in the Gulf of Mexico. The deal was made to revive the project that the state-owned company had twice abandoned due to high costs. Mexico-U.S.

Argentina negotiates gas imports with Bolivia and Chile after heatwave increases demand

Bolivia and Chile have begun talks to resume gas exports to Argentina, amid a spike in demand sparked by a heatwave this summer. This highlights the challenges facing the government of Buenos Aires in its quest to become self-sufficient in energy. Armin Dorgathen Taia, the head of Bolivia's state energy company YPFB told me by phone on Friday that "we are in a negotiations with Argentina to create a contract spot". These talks were previously unknown.

Executive: Bolivia and Argentina in talks to restart gas supply due to spike in demand

Bolivia's state energy company YPFB has begun talks with Argentina to resume gas exports, amid a spike in demand sparked by a heatwave this summer. This highlights the challenges facing the government of Buenos Aires in its quest to become self-sufficient in energy. Armin Dorgathen Tapiea, the YPFB's chief, told a reporter by phone on Friday that "we are in a discussion with Argentina about creating a spot contract." These talks were previously unknown.

Data shows that Mexico's Olmeca refinery was operating at 17 percent of its capacity in November.

Mexican state energy company Pemex resumed refining operations at is new Olmeca refinery in November, working at nearly 17% of its 340,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) capacity after being fully offline in October, official numbers showed this week. The refinery in Dos Bocas is still far below government targets, and hinders the plans to become self-sufficient in motor gasoline. The company released numbers late Tuesday showing that it processed 59.466 bpd crude oil in November.

Sinopec predicts China's oil consumption will peak in 2027

Sinopec (China Petrochemical Corp.) expects China’s petroleum consumption will peak in 2027, at no more that 800 million metric tonnes or 16 million barrels a day. The state energy group released an outlook on Thursday. The forecast is more precise than the one made by the giant refining company last year when it estimated that China's peak oil production would be around 800 millions tons between 2026 to 2030. According to the Beijing outlook…

Shell submits offshore drilling plan for Suriname to environmental approval

BG International, a Shell unit operating in Suriname plans to submit a proposal to the country's environment agency to drill up to four explorations wells offshore Block 65. This was revealed by a document from the company on Tuesday. Suriname has begun its journey to offshore oil and gas production. An $10.5 billion project between TotalEnergies APA Corp. was approved earlier this year with a goal of starting production in 2028.

Sources: Austria's 50-year relationship with Gazprom is ended by the gas seizure

Five sources said that the Austrian group's seizure and payment of Russian gas to cover an arbitration award was what triggered the end of more than 50 years gas flow from Russian state energy company Gazprom to OMV this month. OMV is one of the last remaining gas buyers in Europe, after Gazprom lost most of its European customers in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia was Europe’s largest natural gas supplier before the war. OMV announced on Nov.

Drill, baby, drill in Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale lands!

Argentina's new, market-friendly government, and concerns about oil supplies from the Middle East, and elsewhere, are driving a boom in drilling and production in the Patagonian South, which is home to the giant Vaca Muerta shale, Spanish for "Dead Cow". In the flat, arid terrain, the production of shale oil and gas is surging. Fracking wells have been drilled in record numbers, and pipelines have been built to transport gas to the capital Buenos Aires – and beyond once LNG plants are operational.

Naftogaz CEO: Ukraine produces 53 mcm gas per day

The CEO of Naftogaz said that Ukraine produces 53 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, including 43-44 Mcm produced by the state energy group. Oleksiy Cernyshov said Naftogaz had prepared for different scenarios in advance of the winter months, and that it ensured appropriate quantities of gas were stored. According to him, Ukraine currently has less than 13 billion cu m of natural gas in underground storage. He added that non-resident investors have about 0.5 bcm in underground storage.

Petrobras claims that the Sirius gas field in Colombia could produce 13.3 million cubic metres of gas per day.

Petrobras' exploration general manager Rogerio Soares, who spoke at a conference for the industry on Thursday, said that Colombia's offshore Sirius well could produce 13.3 million cubic metres per day in 10 years. Soares, speaking at the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP)'s forum on oil and gas in Cartagena, said that the initial concept of Sirius envisioned the first offshore gas production in 2029- 2030. Four wells would be producing and a total of 13,3 million cubic metres per day was expected for a period of 10 years.

APPEC-Taiwan CPC expects LNG imports to rise with nuclear phase-out

An official from state energy company CPC Corp stated that Taiwan's annual imports will increase as more gas-fired electricity plants are brought online in the face of the planned phase out of nuclear power by 2020. Vice president Jane Liao said that Taiwan's LNG imports this year could increase to 20 million tonnes from 19 million in 2023. Taiwan Power Company (Taipower), a state-owned utility, is the country's largest customer. Liao explained that this is dependent on Taipower's usage.

Mexico's Pemex receives approval to increase investment in deepwater Lakach field by $400 million

The hydrocarbon regulator in Mexico approved Thursday the request of state energy company Pemex for an expansion of a natural-gas project in Gulf of Mexico. This requires additional investments of just under $400 million. Lakach has been touted as a possible gateway to a deepwater Mexican gas frontier. Pemex requested that the production strategy for the field be updated to include the termination and recovery of wells, production management, and commercialization of hydrocarbons.

US Okays LPG Exports to Venezuela

© bong / Adobe Stock

The U.S. government on Monday authorized shipments to Venezuela of liquefied petroleum gas, mainly used in the OPEC nation as cooking fuel and currently in short supply, causing people to burn large amounts of wood.The U.S. Treasury Department authorized through July 8, 2022, some exports and re-exports of the gas, known as LPG, to Venezuela that had not been permitted by executive orders in 2018 and 2019 during the Trump administration.The Office of Foreign Assets Control…

China's Sinopec Starts Hiring for New Risk Management Unit

Sinopec Logo: Image by Alexey Novikov - AdobeStock

China Petrochemical Corp, or Sinopec Group, has started hiring for six top management positions for a new commodities risk management unit, according to a statement posted on the state energy company's official wechat account on Sunday.Formally known as Sinopec Chaoyang Risk Management Co and with a registered capital of 300 million yuan ($42.40 million), the new firm will provide financial services for the oil and chemical sector including hedging and inventory management…

USA: Twelve Offshore Wind R&D Projects Selected for Funding

Illustration only - Credit: s_a_j/AdobeStock

The U.S. National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (NOWRDC) has selected twelve projects for contract negotiation, completing its first solicitation for offshore wind research and development technology projects. The twelve awards totaling $10.3 million will support a variety of research areas, including comprehensive U.S. supply chain analyses, studying the impacts of offshore wind on the electric grid system…

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