Multiple opportunities in Latin America - Technip CEO

There are multiple upstream and downstream opportunities in Latin America, according to French oil and gas services company Technip's CEO Thierry Pilenko.
"There are quite a number of opportunities both upstream and downstream but the timing of the final investment decision is much more difficult to forecast in countries like Venezuela, Chile or Colombia," Pilenko said in a presentation.
The executive highlighted Technip's push to increase its footprint in Brazil for work from non pre-salt and pre-salt areas. "We see Brazil on a strong path."
Technip reported that its Americas backlog at end-June represented 18% of the group's 8.26bn-euro (US$10.7bn) backlog. The bulk of the backlog is from the Middle East (37%), followed by Europe, Russia and Central Asia (21%), the Americas, Africa (16%) and Asia Pacific (8%).
This geographic balance will be maintained through year-end, added company CFO Julian Waldron.
At end-March, Technip's Americas backlog accounted for 18.1% of the company's 8.02bn-euro backlog.
The firm's Americas revenue in the second quarter fell 20.4% to 347mn euros compared with 2Q09. Companywide revenue reached 1.49bn euros.
By David Casallas

Regional reserves in peril if access continues to be restricted

Latin America's significant 3P reserves of up to 430Bboe might not be unearthed if national oil companies (NOCs) do not act within the next five years, according to Arnold Volkenborn, VP for Schlumberger Business Consulting.
"Latin American reserves can take decades to develop," Volkenborn said in a presentation. "The reserves in Latin America are often heavy crude, capital intensive and have longer development cycles."
Moreover, access to reserves is restricted in the Americas by NOCs that control the rights to the resource, according to Volkenborn.
"The net effect of restricting access to reserves by NOCs is the deferral of development over many decades," he said.
"The underlying assumption is oil will be more valuable in 50-100 years," he continued. "If this is not the case, the vast majority of Latin American reserves will never be developed."
By Christopher Lenton