CARACAS: Venezuelan state-owned PdV could export around 45mn ft3/d (1.26mn m3/d) of natural gas to Colombia starting in January, fulfilling a long-held pledge by Caracas to reverse a cross-border pipeline to supply its gas-hungry neighbor.
Venezuela´s energy ministry told Argus that up to 10pc of the first-stage gas that PdV purchases from the Cardon 4 offshore project between Spain´s Repsol and Italy´s Eni would be shipped to Colombia. But domestic bottlenecks suggest that Colombia could receive substantially more gas as production increases.
Under the first stage of development to be reached by the end of this year, Cardon 4 will produce 450mn ft3/d from three wells in the 17 trillion ft3 Perla field.
Production is scheduled to ramp up to 800mn ft3/d in 2017 and 1.2bn ft3/d in 2020.
In a presentation to Venezuela´s national assembly last week, PdV chief executive and energy minister Eulogio del Pino reiterated that gas exports to Colombia will start in January 2016.
The planned launch of Venezuelan supply through the Antonio Ricaurte pipeline would alleviate a gas shortage in Colombia, where thermal generators have been forced to use diesel in the absence of gas. Domestic gas production is dwindling, and some major generators plan to import LNG starting in 2017. Colombia stopped exporting gas to Venezuela in mid-2015.
In anticipation of growing offshore supply, PdV is refurbishing an existing gas pipeline running from Rio Seco in Falcon state to Ule on the east coast of Lake Maracaibo. The company has also built a subsea line from Ule to Maracaibo where the Antonio Ricaurte line ends.
In separate gas market assessments issued by PdV and Repsol, all of Cardon 4’s peak output would be consumed in the western Venezuelan states of Falcon and Zulia, mainly by PdV’s upstream and downstream operations, state-owned petrochemical producers and state-owned power utility Corpoelec.
PdV estimates gas demand by all state-owned companies in Falcon and Zulia, including the oil sector, at 1.23bn ft3/d.
Before Repsol and Eni started production from the shallow-water Perla field in July, only around 148mn ft3/d of gas was available, equivalent to 12pc of the estimated demand.
In the absence of gas, functioning installations used more costly diesel or other fuels instead.
Gas demand on the Paraguana peninsula in Falcon, including PdV’s 940,000 b/d CRP refining complex and three thermal power plants, totaled 413mn ft3/d as of mid-2015, of which only 125mn ft3/d was available, according to PdV.
The CRP complex, which includes the 635,000 b/d Amuay refinery and nearby 305,000 b/d Cardon refinery, were consuming just 120mn ft3/d of gas at end-June 2015, or 100mn ft3/d less than required for their normal operations. Both refineries have been subject to chronic breakdowns that are widely attributed to a lack of maintenance.
Corpoelec’s 300MW Genevapca thermal power plant, which supplies the CRP refining complex, was consuming only 5mn ft3/d of gas at mid-2015, or just over 7pc of its potential gas consumption capacity of 70mn ft3/d.
Corpoelec’s 450MW Josefa Camejo thermal plant on the Paraguana peninsula, completed in 2012 and designed to burn 105mn ft3/d of gas, has only used diesel since it was commissioned over three years ago.
Based on the 450mn ft3/d of gas that Cardon 4 has guaranteed will be delivered to PdV by end-2015, at least up to 288mn ft3/d could be allocated to refining and power generation needs on the Paraguana peninsula. This would leave 162mn ft3/d that PdV could potentially deliver to other state-owned companies in Zulia, with up to 50mn ft3/d of that allocated for export to Colombia.
But PdV’s gas consumption forecasts for state-owned energy and petrochemicals companies in Zulia and Falcon are contingent on efficient gas transportation and operation of these assets, particularly Corpoelec’s plants and state-owned Pequiven’s petrochemical facilities.
Like the CRP, many installations lack maintenance and are subject to frequent breakdowns and accidents.
Corpoelec’s 660MW Ramon Laguna and 1,220MW Termozulia thermal plants near Maracaibo have a combined gas consumption capacity of 250mn ft3/d. But as of mid-2015 these plants were only using 40mn ft3/d and 39mn ft3/d, respectively.
Equipment failures shut down Ramon Laguna indefinitely last month, and Termozulia is currently operating at less than 50pc of its capacity, Corpoelec reports.
“Corpoelec wants to replace diesel with gas in plants like Josefa Camejo, Termozulia and Ramon Laguna because it would reduce costs and preserve the thermal generation infrastructure, but our ability to burn more gas depends on these plants being fully operational, which in turn depends on financial resources and replacement parts that we don’t have,” a Corpoelec official tells Argus.
Pequiven’s petrochemicals complex in Zulia is also in poor shape. At peak capacity El Tablazo could consume up to 200mn ft3/d of gas, but as of mid-2015 it was only using 57mn ft3/d because most of its plants are shut down or only partially operational, according to PdV.
If PdV’s strategy of incrementally placing Cardon 4 gas supplies locally falters because the state-owned clients have operational problems with their plants, the Antonio Ricaurte pipeline could provide an outlet for up to 150mn ft3/d, an energy ministry official tells Argus.
“Colombia would not turn down more gas from Venezuela in the near term, and the gas exports would generate dollar revenue PdV needs to advance its investment plans in 2016 and 2017,” the ministry official said. Going forward, the official added, gas exports to Colombia could be adjusted in line with changing local demand as Corpoelec and Pequiven repair and restart their plants. With additional compression on the Antonio Ricaurte pipeline, Venezuelan gas exports to Colombia could eventually reach 250mn ft3/d.
Vietnam bumps Thailand down to third place in survey of interest among Japanese businesses
HANOI: Interest in Vietnam among Japanese companies continues to grow, boosting the Southeast Asian country to the second spot, right...
