Three of Latin America’s top oil and gas companies, Pemex, Ecopetrol, and Petrobras, gathered to speak in Houston this morning at IHS CERAWeek with a mirrored message that echoes in the industry across the world: the main challenges that oil and gas companies are facing are from the current low oil gas prices that have slashed their budgets, but they continue to build on opportunities.
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Pereira de Oliveira, Torres, and Hernandez-Garica at CERAWeek. Image from OE Staff. |
Gustavo Hernandez-Garcia, director of prospective resources, reserves, and associations at Mexico’s national oil company Pemex, said that one opportunity they are looking forward to is to partner with companies for the first time in 78 years for several of their existing projects, as well as future project in the Energy Reform rounds.
“I can assure that we are working towards the best procedure,” Hernandez-Garcia said. “This will be the first time that we are working with someone else for the first time in 78 years. We want to be very cautious, because once we sign the first contract, it will set the basis for the following projects.”
Pemex is opening its doors to private investors and operators for several of its fields, which include shallow water, deepwater, and onshore that Hernandez-Garcia said is worth US$50 billion in capex.
Hernandez-Garcia said that the data room with open “very soon,” and that Pemex expects that “in the next few months to have the first migrated contract complete.” However, final decisions will be made by Mexico’s Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos(CNH).
Colombia’s Ecopetrol has seen its budget cut by 30% due to today’s oil prices and has suffered in its offshore exploration. So much so, that most of its programs have been canceled, even though the Ecopetrol is partnered with several big-name companies like Shell, Petrobras, Anadarko and ONGC, Max Torres, the company’s exploration vice president said.
Ecopetrol is planning only two offshore wells this year, and will put the rest of its focus on its onshore projects in the next two years.
The company is also looking for farm-outs and partners for its offshore assets, and will continue to in 2016.
“We have three different rounds with 35 blocks on the table for farm-outs, but essentially we did not have a lot of offers,” Torres said. “We are negotiating with partners right now to build partnerships.”
Brazil’s Petrobras, which just brought its seventh major definitive production system online in the pre-salt area layer of the Santos basin, is looking to bring an additional two production systems into play this year.
According to the company’s executive manager of upstream, Carlos Alberto Pereira de Oliveira, besides its budget cuts, the company faces challenges in the pre-salt layer due to the risks involved.
Pereira de Oliveira said they are working to optimize the resources they have, and focusing on having the best information, in addition to having backup plans should some procedures fail.
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