LatinNews Daily Report - 13 September 2013

ECONOMY | First natural gas discovery. On 11 September Guatemala’s mining and energy minister Erick Archila announced the country’s first discovery of natural gas, in the La Libertad municipality in the northern Petén region. According to a ministerial press release, the oil company City Petén, a subsidiary of the US company Ford Resources, estimates that there is at least some 2m cubic feet of natural gas in the area on the basis of its exploratory drilling of the Ocultún well. That could cover 30% of Guatemala’s daily propane gas needs. The energy ministry puts Guatemala’s daily gas use at 65,000 25lb-cylinders a day. The news is a boost to the government of President Otto Pérez Molina given major public complaints about energy costs, against which there were mass protests across the country on 21 August. The government is on a drive to boost hydrocarbons production. Guatemala is one of just two oil-producing countries in Central America (along with Belize), but production has been declining as a result of the poor condition of existing wells and a lack of exploration. Current production is around 10,000 barrels per day (b/d), compared with a peak of 25,000 b/d in 1998 and far below the current consumption of 75,000 b/d. On 5 July, Archila announced that operating concessions for 25 years, extendable for a further 15, had been awarded to six foreign oil companies: France’s Perenco Guatemala Limited; Panama’s Galax Garden Corporation; Island Oil Exploration Services and Greenfields Petroleum Guatemala (both of the US); Colombia’s Trayectoria Oil & Gas; and Zacapa Energy Ltd, of Russia.

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