Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez and the president of state oil company PDVSA Rafael Ramírez signed agreements on Friday with a number of foreign oil companies to form JVs to develop three LNG trains in the country.
Investment in the three trains to both develop offshore natural gas fields and construct liquefaction facilities will reach US$19.6bn, Chávez and Ramírez said on Venezuelan television.
While agreements for the first train were widely expected, the agreements for the second and third trains were full of surprises that saw Japanese, Russian and Malaysian firms join the project, an industry analyst told BNamericas.
Authorities signed agreements to form JVs to develop the first two LNG trains and signed MOUs to plan for the development of the third.
The first LNG train will use gas from the Plataforma Deltana's block 2. Chevron (NYSE: CVX) has a 39% stake in the block, and PDVSA holds the balance, Ramírez said.
The second train will use gas from PDVSA's Mariscal Sucre field, which PDVSA plans to develop alone.
PDVSA will hold 60% of the JV formed to develop the first train. Portugal's Galp will hold 15%, Chevron will hold 10%, Qatar Petroleum will hold 10% and Japan's Mitsubishi-Mitsui will have a 5% stake. Investment in the train will reach US$6.4bn.
PDVSA will also have a 60% stake in the JV formed to develop the second train. Portugal's Galp will have a 15% stake, Argentina's state energy company Enarsa will hold 10%, Mitsubishi-Mitsui will have 5% and Japan's Itochu will hold 10%. A total of US$5.2bn will be spent to develop the second train.
For the third train, PDVSA awarded two new offshore blocks including Blanquilla and Tortuga to an exploration consortium formed by PDVSA (20%), Russia's Gazprom (30%), Malaysia's Petronas (20%), Italy's Eni (20%) and Portugal's EDP (10%). Some US$700mn will be spent on exploration activities over the areas.
"Thirteen companies paid US$350,000 in August 2006 for the data package to bid on the Delta Caribe offshore gas licenses including the two blocks that were just awarded, which I guess is now finally not going to happen," an industry source told BNamericas.
PDVSA will hold a 60% stake in the JV that will develop the third train to use gas from the aforementioned consortium. Gazprom will have a 15% in the third train, Petronas will hold 10%, Eni will hold 10% and EDP will have a 5% stake. Some US$7.3bn will be spent to develop the train.
Offshore pipelines from the Blanquilla and Tortuga fields will connect with Margarita island before reaching the Cigma liquefaction facility.
The Cigma liquefaction facility under development near the Delta Caribe Oriental offshore blocks should begin LNG exports from the first two trains by 2013. Exports from the third train would begin by 2016.
Each train will have the capacity to process the equivalent of 200,000boe/d, Ramírez said.
Chávez praised the project and said the Venezuela's natural gas production would double by 2014, allowing the country to better serve its tight domestic market as well as begin exports.
"Natural gas will give us the same opportunities that oil gave us years ago," Chávez said at the signing ceremony. "We can now say that the gas revolution has begun for sure."
The president also praised Chevron's comittiment and said the country would welcome better ties with the US when a new administration is sworn in next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment