Roundup: Pipeline attack, biofuel bill, LNG export, JV deal

Venezuela's PDVSA reported it put into action a contingency plan to minimize the impact from an explosion on the Antonio Ricaurte binational natural gas pipeline which runs from the Ballenas station in Colombia's Guajira department to Ramón Laguna in Zulia state, Venezuela. The break occurred on the Charapilla-Majayura stretch of the 26-inch diameter, 202km line which transports 150Mf3/d (4.25Mm3/d), the NOC said in a statement. Colombian police attributed the attack to the FARC guerrilla group. *** Panama's national assembly in a third and final debate approved bill 660 that aims to protect local anhydrous bioethanol production by placing a US$3.78/gallon tax on fuel mixed with imported anhydrous bioethanol. The economy and finance ministry presented the initiative, the latest edition of which is available in Spanish here. *** Annova LNG filed an application with the US Department of Energy to secure authorization to export domestically produced LNG to free trade agreement (FTA) countries from its Brownsville facility. "In its initial stages, the facility will produce 2Mt/y, or about 300,000MMBTU/d, and is expected to be in-service by mid-2018," the company said in a statement. The US has FTAs with regional countries Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. *** And Wood Group and Siemens entered into an agreement to form a JV consisting of Wood's maintenance and power solutions businesses and Siemens' TurboCare business unit which provides aftermarket gas turbine, steam turbine and generator design, repair and manufacturing services. Information is available here.