Angola's liquefied natural gas project will start operations next year, and a first cargo of LNG will be shipped in the first quarter of next year, a Chevron Corp. (CVX) executive said Monday.
Angola
's
liquefied natural gas project will start operations next year, and a first
cargo of LNG will be shipped in the first quarter of next year, a Chevron Corp.
(CVX) executive said Monday.
"Angola LNG is right on schedule, and we are expecting a first cargo to be
shipped out in the first quarter of 2012," Ali Moshiri, Chevron's
president for
Africa
and
Latin
America
exploration and production told Dow Jones Newswires.
Chevron and Angolan national oil company Sonangol are building
Angola
's
first LNG project, which has a $9 billion price tag--the largest infrastructure
investment made in
Angola
.
The gas used by the LNG project is a byproduct of oil production, and most of
it is currently being flared; liquefying the gas would allow
Angola
to
stop flaring it and to start getting some revenue from the commodity. The LNG
can be shipped to the
U.S.
,
Europe
and
Asia
.
The startup of Chevron's Usan's project in Nigeria's deep water is still on
schedule for next year, and the company's massive Abgami oil field, also in
that country, is producing more than 250,000 barrels of oil a day. Moshiri
said. New development wells the company drilled at Abgami will allow to
maintain that level of production for an additional years, Moshiri said.
Africa
currently represents about 17% of Chevron's
company's total oil and gas production. Chevron is the second-largest
U.S.
oil
company by market value after Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM).
Speaking about the company's exploration and production plans for Brazil, one
of the most significant countries for Chevron in Latin America, Moshiri said
the company's expects to drill one pre-salt well in the fourth quarter in Frade
Field, which is currently producing about 70,000 barrels of oil a day. "We
are hoping to spud the well sometime in the fourth quarter of 2011,"
Moshiri said.
Chevron is deciding whether or not it will participate in
Brazil
's
11th-round auction of oil and natural gas exploration, which will be held in
the second half of this year. The auction features some offshore blocks in the
equatorial region but not in the much-ballyhooed pre-salt region.
"We are taking a look at it. We are very interested offshore
Brazil
and
want to focus on that area, but will evaluate any opportunity in the country
because
Brazil
is a
significant part of our Latin American portfolio."
Moshiri also said Venezuela's efforts to push international companies to
increase production was "understandable" and that recent windfall
taxes approved by the government of President Hugo Chavez will be somehow be
offset by giving companies an exception for production coming from new
investment.
"Our understanding is that new investment is going to be excepted from the
windfall taxes and that is a positive," Moshiri said. "It's almost
like they are taking money from what you are producing but at the same time
they are giving that incentive."
In an overhaul of its oil income royalties system, the Venezuelan government
announced a little more than a week ago that it was raising a windfall tax on
oil income to 95% of revenue when oil trades above $100 a barrel and 90% when
the commodity is above $90.
The new tax, however, will not be levied on new production, according to the
decree, until
Venezuela
's oil
partners have recovered the value of their investment. Oil Minister Rafael
Ramirez last week in a press conference that he didn't expect companies to be
harmed by the tax. State oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela SA is pressuring
its minority partners to raise investment and production in a bid to halt
declining output. Also exempt from the tax are
Venezuela
's oil
treaties with
China
and
allies around the
Caribbean
like
Cuba
.
Moshiri also said that European crude oil Brent has become a more accurate
benchmark for oil markets because it better reflects the increasing demand for
oil in countries such as
China
and
India
.
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