Blog

Producción y mercados energéticos 18/02/19

Latest Energy News

18 February 2019

TOP STORY: Mexico will spend US$3.6bn to rescue ailing oil and gas company Pemex The Mexican government has updated its plan to save the ailing state-held oil and gas company Pemex, in an attempt to improve its balance sheet and prevent a further downgrade of its credit rating. The government has proposed a cash injection of US$3.6bn by 2024 (at least US$1.25bn by the end of 2019, plus US$1.8bn to monetise labor liabilities and US$600m for «additional fiscal aid 2019-2024») and a reduction in taxes paid by the company. Part of the funding – around US$1.6bn – would come from the government’s fight against fuel theft. Besides, the government has confirmed that the company would make all its debt payments. Pemex holds approximately US$106bn in financial debt, the largest of any state-run oil company in Latin America. The company was recently downgraded by the ratings firms Moody’s and Fitch, which means that it will need additional funds ranging between US$9bn/year and US$14bn/year to make it through. Although Pemex controls the majority of the domestic assets, it lacks funds to accelerate the development of its reserves and needs to raise capital. Due to the natural depletion of oil fields and a lack of investment, the company’s production has plummeted for years, from a peak of 3.6 mb/d in 2004 to 1.8 md/d in the first half of 2018. However, the government plans to reverse the trend and add 600,000 bbl/d to reach 2.4 mb/d by 2024.

Companies EDF’s renewable power generation rose by 14% in 2018 (France) French state-owned power utility EDF’s has published its annual results for 2018. The company’s renewable power generation (excluding hydropower) rose by 14% to reach 17.2 TWh. In France, hydropower production jumped by 25.4% to 46.5 TWh, while nuclear power generation rose by 3.7% to 393 TWh, in line with its previously established corporate targets ranging between 393 TWh and 396 TWh. Read more Eni’s total hydrocarbon production rose by 2.5% in 2018 (Italy) Italian oil and gas company Eni has released its 2018 results: hydrocarbon production rose by 2.5% in 2018 to 1.85 mboe/d, driven by the addition of more than 300 kboe/d of production ramp-ups at several giant projects including Zohr and Nooros in Egypt, Jangkrik (Indonesia), OCTP Oil (Ghana), East Hub (Angola) and Nenè Phase 2 (Congo). Read more Policy & Regulatory Germany’s latest power auction confirms growing interest for solar projects The German federal energy regulator BNetzA (Bundesnetzagentur) has published the results of two separate auctions, one for onshore wind and the other for solar photovoltaic (PV), both with a bidding date set for 1 February 2019. The outcome confirmed the trend observed during the last tenders. Read more Energy Markets Tennessee Valley Authority decides to close 2 coal-fired power plants (US) The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has decided to retire the last units at two of its coal-fired power plants due to economic reasons. The company estimates that the coal-fired power units have become too expensive to operate and predicts that closing them would save customers an estimated US$320m. Read more Energy Prices & Taxes Estonian, Finnish and Latvian TSOs set up single gas transmission tariff The natural gas transmission operators (TSOs) of Estonia (Elering), Finland (Gasum and Baltic Connector Oy) and Latvia (Conexus Baltic Grid) have signed an ITC (inter-transmission system operator compensation) agreement which sets up a single gas transmission tariff zone for the three countries from the beginning of 2020. Once implemented,… Read more Forecasts Lao PDR intends to become a power transmission hub by 2025 The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has outlined a strategy to become the nevralgic centre of a regional electricity transmission system by 2025. The country is working on the modernisation of its power sector and plans to set up new policy parameters and guidelines, which will help it boost its power export capacity to 14,800 MW by that date, including 9,000 MW to Thailand,… Read more Infrastructure & Investments BPCL (India) will buy 1 Mt/year of LNG from Mozambique LNG US-based oil and gas company Anadarko Petroleum has signed a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Bharat Gas Resources (a subsidiary of Indian oil and gas company Bharat Petroleum Corporation) for the delivery of 1 Mt/year of LNG from its Mozambique LNG project over a 15-year period from the start-up of production. Read more CNOOC may partner with Phoenix to build LNG import terminal (Philippines) A consortium of China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and the fuel retailer Phoenix Petroleum Philippines has initiated negotiations with the state-held oil and gas firm Philippines National Oil Company (PNOC) to establish a strategic partnership to build a new US$2bn LNG import and regasification terminal project in Batangas (Philippines). Read more MHPS begins trial operations at Jawa-2 CCGT project (Indonesia) Japanese turbine provider Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) has started trial operation of the 800 MW (880 MW gross) Jawa-2 CCGT project at the Tanjung Priok power plant on Java Island (Indonesia). The project is also referred to either as Tanjung Priok-4 or Jawa-2 and is located approximately 10 km northeast of central Jakarta. Read more