(Bloomberg, 20.Jun.2021) — President Joe Biden’s administration rejected Nicolas Maduro’s call for relief from U.S. sanctions, saying the Venezuelan leader needs to do more toward restoring democracy before penalties would be lifted. Maduro, a target of crippling U.S. sanctions under former President Donald Trump, reached out to Biden in an […]
Category: Venezuela
Venezuela energy
Biden’s Venezuela Policy In Holding Pattern As Maduro Outlasts Pressures
(S&P Global, 18.Jun.2021) — After Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro outlasted the Trump administration’s maximum sanctions pressure, US President Joe Biden will have to decide whether to offer Venezuela limited sanctions relief or more, amid calls from the left in Congress for humanitarian relief. An easing of some sanctions would only […]
Venezuela President Maduro Talks Sanctions, Economy: Transcript
(Bloomberg, 18.Jun.2021) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro spoke to Bloomberg TV’s Erik Schatzker in an exclusive interview in Caracas at the Miraflores presidential palace. The comments have been translated from Spanish. Q: Venezuela, a country of extraordinary resources and a rich history, has been a relevant player in global dialogue […]
LatAm Briefs: Suriname Event, Iran-Venezuela Dealings
(Energy Analytics Institute, 11.Jun.2021) — Energy briefs from the Latin America and Caribbean region including: Suriname oil summit tagging entrepreneurship, investor friendliness as key priorities, and Iranian warship that could take in millions of gallons of fuel to Venezuela Suriname Summit Tags Entrepreneurship, Investor Friendliness As Key Priorities Suriname’s political […]
PDVSA’s CardĂłn refinery producing between 40,000-50,000 b/d
CARACAS, VENEZUELA (By Energy Analytics Institute, 10.Jun.2021, Words: 90) — The CardĂłn refinery operated by state-controlled Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) in Punto Fijo, Venezuela is currently processing between 40,000-50,000 barrels per day of gasoline compared to demand of around 80,000 b/d. CardĂłn is the PDVSA’s only operating refinery, the daily […]
Venezuelan Oil, Masked As Malaysian, Rushes Into China Ahead Fuel Tax
(Reuters, 3.Jun.2021) — Traders are racing to deliver record volumes of Venezuelan crude oil masked as Malaysian bitumen blend to China, ahead of new fuel taxes that look set to upend the lucrative flow of sanctioned oil to the world’s top crude importer. China has over the past 12 months […]
LatAm Briefs: EP PetroEcuador Tenders, Ofac License Extension To Chevron
(Energy Analytics Institute, 2.Jun.2021) — Energy briefs from the Latin America and Caribbean region including: EP PetroEcuador generating $768mn thru ten tenders of Oriente and Napo crude oil between January and May 2021 and the US’ OFAC extending a general license to Chevron and others to continue operating in Venezuela. […]
Venezuela Adjusts As Sanctions Spur Western Oil Partners To Retreat
(Reuters, 1.Jun.2021) — Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is turning to local partners as it seeks to plug the gap left by Western companies in the OPEC nation’s oil sector, according to interviews with a half dozen industry sources, as U.S. companies win a reprieve to maintain a limited presence […]
Venezuela Oil Exports Fell In May On Outages, Diluent Shortage
(Reuters, 1.Jun.2021) — Venezuela’s oil exports fell to 593,550 barrels per day (bpd) in May as a result of an outage in its main producing region and a lack of diluents to produce exportable grades, documents and tanker tracking data showed. The OPEC member’s oil shipments were stable at around […]
LatAm Briefs: Ofac Venezuela, SEOGS2021 Kicks Off, Net Zero Summit
(Energy Analytics Institute, 1.Jun.2021) — Energy briefs from the Latin America and Caribbean region including: Ofac extending Chevron’s operating license in Venezuela; Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, participating in the Innovating To Net Zero Summit; and the kick off of the Suriname Energy, Oil and Gas Summit (SEOGS2021). Ofac Extends Chevron’s […]
LatAm Briefs: Ecopetrol’s Barrancabermeja Refinery, Venezuela Oil Forecast
(Energy Analytics Institute, 26.May.2021) — Energy briefs from the Latin America and Caribbean region including: loads reported steady at Ecopetrol’s Barrancabermeja Refinery; and Venezuela’s production of crude oil expected to rise slightly in 2021, according to estimates revealed by Ecoanalitica. Ecopetrol’s Reports Steady Loads At Barrancabermeja Refinery The loads at […]
Maduro Receives Harsh Economic Blow From An Unlikely Source: China
(Miami Herald, 25.May.2021) — A recently approved Chinese tax might translate into a severe economic blow to the Nicolás Maduro regime by almost doubling the importing cost of the oil that Venezuela sells in violation of the U.S. sanctions, analysts said. The Chinese government is set to start collecting the […]
New Chinese Tax Narrows Venezuela’s Oil Export Options
(Argus, 17.May.2021) — A Chinese tax overhaul threatens to orphan up to 400,000 b/d of Venezuelan heavy sour crude that has been a lifeline for Caracas since the US imposed oil sanctions in 2019. Although Chinese companies moved away from directly lifting Venezuelan crude around August 2019, independent refiners regularly […]
Maduro Should Be Tried for Ecocide
(Foreign Policy, 14.May.2021) — It isn’t uncommon to hear charges of “genocide” leveled at the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro due to the humanitarian disaster unfolding in his country in the last few years. But now, a growing chorus has begun to blame Venezuela’s leadership with the crime of “ecocide”—or the […]
Venezuela Needs $58bn To Restore Oil Output To 1998 Levels-Document
(Reuters, 10.May.2021) — Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA would need $58 billion in investment to revive its crude production to the levels of 1998 before ex-President Hugo Chavez came to power, equivalent to 3.4 million barrels per day (bpd), a document seen by Reuters shows. In the February 2021 document […]
LatAm Briefs: Venezuela Oil Output, Ecopetrol Tactical Hedges
(Energy Analytics Institute, 5.May.2021) — Energy briefs from the Latin America and Caribbean region including: Venezuela’s rising crude oil production and tactical hedges in place by Colombia’s Ecopetrol. Venezuela’s Oil Production Continues To Rise Venezuela’s crude oil production continues to rise despite US sanctions that impede it legally trading oil […]
Former PDVSA Executive Ortega Gets Two Year Prison Sentence
(AP, 5.May.2021) — A former Venezuelan oil executive was sentenced to more than two years in prison for taking at least $12 million in bribes from businessmen who allegedly raided the coffers of the state-run oil company. Abraham Ortega is the first former Venezuelan official to be sentenced as part […]
Venezuelan Olive Branches Pressure US To Ease Sanctions
(Argus, 4.May.2021) — Venezuela’s government has incorporated the political opposition into its electoral board, another olive branch that puts pressure on the US administration to ease sanctions. But President Joe Biden’s administration has signaled that it is in no hurry to change course on Venezuela. In a closely monitored session […]
LatAm Briefs: IPD On Sanctions On Venezuela, bp’s Looney On Transformation
(Energy Analytics Institute, 4.May.2021) — Energy briefs from the Latin America and Caribbean region including: IPD Latin America’s Managing Director David Voght on US’ sanctions on Venezuela and bp’s CEO Bernard Looney on the company’s evolution from an IOC to an IEC. IPD’s David Voght On US’ Sanctions On Venezuela […]
Venezuela’s Oil Exports Stabilize
(Reuters, 1.May.2021) — Venezuela’s April oil exports were flat at about 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) for the third month in a row, with three-quarters of its shipments headed to Asia and the Middle East, according to tanker tracking data and documents from state-run Petroleos de Venezuela. PDVSA’s exports have […]
Mexico Port Works On US-Sanctioned Tankers That Transport Venezuela’s Oil
(Reuters, 30.Apr.2021) — Three Cuban-flagged tankers that are under U.S. sanctions for transporting Venezuelan oil to the Communist-run island have been serviced in the port of Veracruz on Mexico’s Gulf coast, according to vessel tracking data and industry sources. The maintenance work on the vessels — one of which was […]
Fitch Revises Citgo’s Outlook To Stable
(Fitch Ratings, 8.Apr.2021) — Fitch Ratings affirmed the Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of CITGO Petroleum (Opco) at ‘B’ and CITGO Holding (Holdco) at ‘CCC+’, Opco’s senior secured term loans, notes, and industrial revenue bonds at ‘BB’/’RR1’, and Holdco’s senior secured term loans and bonds at ‘B+’/’RR1’. Fitch withdrew the […]
Venezuelan Oil Flow Recedes
(Argus, 8.Apr.2021) — Venezuelan crude production fell back in early April after state-owned PdV diverted limited diluent and light crude from Orinoco heavy oil operations to its recovering refining sector. Output from the Orinoco heavy oil belt declined from around 360,000 b/d in late March to less than 200,000 b/d […]
Nabarima FSO Completes Oil Offloading
(Reuters, 8.Apr.2021) — A floating facility off the Venezuelan coast has finished offloading crude stored in it for the past two years due to U.S. sanctions, paving the way for output to resume in an oilfield, an official of the facility’s operator said on Thursday. Operations to remove crude from […]
LatAm Briefs: Venezuela’s 7+7 Quarantine, Elections In Peru
(Energy Analytics Institute, 5.Apr.2021) — Energy briefs from the Latin America and Caribbean region including: Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro announces the start of another 7+7 quarantine rotation and Peru eyes presidential elections on 11 April 2021. Venezuela Starts Another 7+7 Quarantine Rotation Oil producer Venezuela will start another so-called radical […]
LatAm Briefs: Russia, Venezuela Boost Ties; YPF Meeting
(Energy Analytics Institute, 30.Mar.2021) — Energy briefs from the Latin America and Caribbean region including: Russia and Venezuela strengthening their cooperation and Argentina’s state oil producer YPF eyeing shareholders’ meeting on 30 April 2021. Russia And Venezuela Strengthen Cooperation A Russian-Venezuelan high-level intergovernmental commission (CIAN by its Spanish acronym) signed […]
Maduro’s Eyes Buying Vaccines With Oil
(Reuters, 28.Mar.2021) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday proposed paying for vaccines against the novel coronavirus with oil, though he provided few details about how such a scheme would work. The crisis-stricken OPEC nation’s crude exports have plummeted to their lowest levels in decades since Washington sanctioned state oil […]
Venezuela: “A Vision In Three Times”
(Energy Analytics Institute, 25.Mar.2021) — The webinar “Venezuela: a Vision in Three Times” on 25 March 2021 saw three speakers discuss the OPEC country’s oil sector. What follows are highlights from their discussion. Horacio Medina, the President of PDVSA’s Ad Hoc Board — “Venezuela’s state oil company PetrĂłleos de Venezuela […]
PDVSA’s Bonaire Terminal Declares Bankruptcy
(Reuters, 22.Mar.2021) — A unit of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire has declared bankruptcy, citing the impact of U.S. sanctions on Venezuela, a court filing showed. In a March 9 filing published last week by the Court of First Instance of Bonaire, Sint […]
LatAm Briefs: PDVSA Pipeline Attack, EP PetroEcuador Replanting
(Energy Analytics Institute, 21.Mar.2021) — Energy briefs from the Latin America and Caribbean region including: Venezuela state oil giant denouncing an attack on a pipeline in Monagas state and EP PetroEcuador replanting 45 hectares in two Ecuadorian provinces. PDVSA Denounces Attack On Monagas Pipeline Venezuela’s state-owned oil producer PetrĂłleos de […]
Are Foreign Oil Firms About To Return To Venezuela?
(Bloomberg, 19.Mar.2021) — Inside a chic lounge, oil lobbyists and executives rub shoulders as Spanish, French and Italian can be heard in the halls. This isn’t the ZaZa boutique hotel in Houston, where global energy top brass like to stay. It’s the Cayena Hotel in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. Drawn by […]
Petrobras On BODs Nominees
(Petrobras, 18.Mar.2021) — Petrobras, pursuant to CIRCULAR LETTER/CVM/SEP/No.01/2021, reports that it has received the nomination of candidate Pedro Rodrigues GalvĂŁo de Medeiros for the Board of Directors, in case multiple voting process is adopted. Board of Directors election will take place at the Extraordinary General Meeting of 12 April 2021. […]
Ministers Informed Of Deal ‘Citgo Six’ Were Jailed For
(Reuters, 17.Mar.2021) — Six executives of U.S. refiner Citgo have been jailed in Caracas on graft charges since 2017, but court documents seen by Reuters show that top Venezuelan officials were made aware of the deal that the country’s top prosecutor accused the six executives of signing in secret. The […]
LatAm Briefs: Ambar Eyes Bolivian Gas, PDVSA Shuts CardĂłn Refinery
(Energy Analytics Institute, 16.Mar.2021) — Energy briefs from the Latin America and Caribbean regions Bolivia and Venezuela including Ambar executives seeking a deal for piped gas from Bolivia’s YPFB, PDVSA shutting its CardĂłn Refinery in FalcĂłn state, and Venezuela reportedly shipping around 50% of its diesel production to Cuba. Ambar […]
LatAmNRG Briefs: YPF Fuels, Colombian Fracking
(Energy Analytics Institute, 15.Mar.2021) — Energy briefs from the Latin America and Caribbean regions Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela including: Tenaris snatches up Baker Hughes Argentina, YPF raises fuel prices again, Colombia’s ANH awaits offers for more pilot fracking projects and Venezuela suffers a severe diesel shortage. Tenaris Acquires Baker Hughes […]
PdV Refinery Suspends Petrol Production
(Argus, 12.Mar.2021) — Venezuelan state-owned PdV suspended gasoline production at its 305,000 b/d Cardon refinery this week as a result of more equipment breakdowns. Cardon was producing about 45,000 b/d of gasoline before a compressor failure shut down the plant’s 54,000 b/d naphtha reformer. The failure of steam supply units […]
Venezuela’s Stations Offer Fuel, Liquor
(Bloomberg, 11.Mar.2021) — Welcome to Venezuela’s new gasoline stations: They boast digital fuel pumps and high-end, imported liquor. They’re plastered in fresh coats of bright yellow and red paint. And in what’s become a rarity these days, they actually have gasoline to sell — for a price that very few can […]
Venezuela’s Oil Exports Rose In February: Data
(Reuters, 1.Mar.2021) — Venezuela’s oil exports rose in February to over 700,000 barrels per day (bpd), their highest level in 10 months, pushed by more sales of fuel oil cargoes to new clients in Asian markets, according to Refinitiv Eikon’s tanker tracking data and documents. A growing number of clients […]
World Must Stop Venezuela’s Environmental Destruction
(By Francisco Dallmeier and Cristina V. Burelli, 22.Feb.2021) — The political and economic ruin of Venezuela, once one of Latin America’s wealthiest countries, is by now a well-known story. Far less understood are the catastrophic impacts of the crisis on the country’s environment. International action is urgently needed — first […]
Diesel And Food In Venezuela
(Council on Foreign Relations, Elliott Abrams, 18.Feb.2021) — As part of the broad economic sanctions against the Maduro regime in Venezuela and especially the petroleum sector, the Trump administration barred swaps of Venezuelan crude oil for gasoline and diesel. There has been a debate over this step. The humanitarian argument […]
Texas Power Outage is Reminiscent of Socialist Venezuela
(Forbes, 18.Feb.2021) — In Houston, TX, the Energy Capital of the World, I have been without power and running water for three days. I and millions of other Texas residents are currently enduring the consequences of one of the worst instances of engineering malpractice, business mismanagement, and political irresponsibility in […]
China, Russia, Venezuela: Q&A With Thomas O’Donnell
(Energy Analytics Institute, 13.Feb.2021) — China and Russia continue to push around their might in Venezuela. Thomas O’Donnell with the Hertie School of Governance & Freie Universität-Berlin weighs in briefly here. Energy Analytics Institute: What might China and Russia be willing to do this year to assist Venezuela’s President Nicolas […]
UN’s Douhan Urges Lifting Sanctions Against Venezuela
(OHCHR, 12.Feb.2021) — The UN Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures and human rights, Alena Douhan, today urged the United States, European Union and other States to drop unilateral sanctions imposed against Venezuela. At the end of a two-week visit to Venezuela, Douhan said the sanctions have exacerbated pre-existing calamities. […]
UN Reports On Impacts Of US Sanctions On Venezuela
(OHCHR, 12.Feb.2021) — The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, Ms. Alena Douhan, visited the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela from 1-12 February 2021. She thanks the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for enabling and supporting her […]
US Still Eyes “Free And Fair” Elections In Venezuela
(Energy Analytics Institute, 11.Feb.2021) — The US, despite recent presidential elections and a drastic change of leadership from the top down, continues in pursuit of “free and fair” elections in Venezuela and is willing to reverse sanctions if the results are achieved. “The [US] sanctions are to force a change […]
Venezuela Briefs: Oil Tankers, OPEC+ Meeting
(Energy Analytics Institute, 10.Feb.2021) — Venezuelan briefs related to the departure of oil tankers Era and Explorer from PDVSA’s Amuay refinery in Punto Fijo and Venezuela’s participation in recent OPEC+ discussions. Oil Tankers Depart Amuay For Singapore (Energy Analytics Institute, 10.Feb.2021) — The oil tankers Era and Explorer are said […]
China Expands Presence In LatAm’s Energy Industries
(IOA, 10.Feb.2021) — China is broadening its presence in Latin America’s energy and strategic minerals sectors, posing challenges to the regional countries themselves as well as to the United States, according to a new white paper published by the Institute of the Americas (IOA), an independent, nonpartisan organization based in […]
Sugarcane Harvest At Risk In Venezuela’s Portuguesa State
(Energy Analytics Institute, 30.Jan.2021) — Venezuelan sugarcane growers in the country’s central Portuguesa state are at risk of losing the opportunity to harvest an estimated 762 hectares of the cane due to a lack of diesel. Producers in the state need an estimated 150,000 liters of diesel to assist them […]
PDVSA Ad Hoc Board Head Calls Citgo “Crown Jewel”
(Energy Analytics Institute, 29.Jan.2021) — The president of the Ad Hoc Board of PetrĂłleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) called US-based refiner Citgo Petroleum the “crown jewel” of the company’s international assets. Horacio Medina, the President of PDVSA’s Ad Hoc Board, said the situation regarding actions taken during 2019-2020 by Interim President […]
OPEC Fund Marks 45 Years Of Driving Development
(The OPEC Fund, 28.Jan.2021) — The OPEC Fund for International Development (the OPEC Fund) marks its 45th anniversary today. Since inception, the multilateral development finance institution has approved more than $25bn in essential financing for 135 partner countries. Established in 1976 with a distinct mandate to drive development, strengthen communities […]