Peter-Vincent Schuld

While the Netherlands and Belgium are working on numerous micro-initiatives to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, often symbolically with the costs borne by citizens, reality teaches us that the demand for fossil fuels will continue to increase in the coming decades. We will soon be publishing an in-depth analysis of this phenomenon and other aspects.

It has to be said: The oil farmers are doing well economically. The Portuguese oil and gas company GALP, which has its registered office in Rotterdam, as well as many of its subsidiaries are also performing well and are benefiting from higher oil prices.

GALP announced in the past few hours that it has signed a 20-year purchase and sales agreement with Venture Global, an American company that profiles itself as an efficient low-cost provider of “Liquid Natural Gas” or LNG. Galp has committed to purchase 1 million tonnes of LNG per year from Venture Global through the Calcasieu Pass Energy export facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. This export facility is currently under construction and is expected to be fully operational in 2022. The competent authorities, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the US, will actually still approve the agreement.

Through this agreement, GALP will be able to source and resell LNG on attractive terms.

GALP announced a few days ago that it experienced growth in the first quarter of 2018, which was partly attributable to its oil and gas extraction activities in Brazilian waters. Production increased by 18% and is now above 100,000 barrels per day. Operating profit in the first quarter rose by 63% to 210 million euros.

The extraction of oil and gas in Brazilian territorial waters is of paramount importance to GALP. GALP currently has seven production platforms operating there at full capacity.
According to GALP, the sailing production and storage platform P66 has made the largest contribution to the ramped-up production.

Later this year, GALP will put new sailing production platforms into operation. Two floating production platforms will become active in Brazil this year and next.

Another production vessel will operate in Angolan territorial waters in the so-called Kaombo North Area, block 32, after which another production facility will join the production capacity next year. GALP has reduced production in other older and less profitable offshore oil fields in Angolan waters.