(Energy Analytics Institute, Pietro D. Pitts, 19.Jul.2013) – Fitch’s Latin America Corporates Group Director Lucas Aristizabal spoke with Energy Analytics Institute in a brief interview from New York City, New York.
What follows are excerpts from the brief interview.
Regarding PDVSA’s strategy to focus more attention on China:
EAI: PDVSA continues to shift its attention and oil exports to China, is this a good move?
Aristizabal: In recent years, Venezuela has been shifting production away from the U.S. and to countries such as China, which is part of the company’s strategy so I don’t think it is a secret that the company intends to strengthen its relationship with the Chinese.
The export trends indicate that PDVSA is moving away from the U.S. and moving closer to markets such as China and other Asian markets.
PDVSA’s strategy for the refining sector is to increase production of higher quality crudes so that they are widely accepted by refineries worldwide and to increase the value of product so that they are acceptable by refineries that cannot refine heavy crudes.
EAI: What is the biggest issue under PDVSA’s business plan:
Aristizabal: PDVSA has been slow on delivering its production targets.
PDVSA is facing challenges to increase production, even with the amount of capital that the company spends each year.
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