(Reuters, 9.Jul.2020) — India’s Reliance will load its first cargo of Venezuelan crude in three months this week in exchange for diesel under a swap deal the parties say is permitted under the U.S. sanctions regime on the Latin American country, according to a Reliance source and a shipping document […]
Category: Venezuela
Venezuela energy
Venezuela’s Oil Production Sinks To 300,000 b/d
(Argus, 3.Jul.2020) — Venezuela kicked off July with only around 300,000 b/d of crude production and no oil rigs in operation, according to a series of internal operation reports from state-owned PdV. The production level is the Opec country’s lowest in close to nine decades, with the exception of a […]
Venezuela Awaits New Products Cargo From Italy
(Argus, 3.Jul.2020) — Venezuela will receive another products cargo from Italy next week, highlighting the endurance of debt-related oil trade with EU companies that falls outside the scope of escalating US sanctions on Caracas. The Malta-flagged Gemma is scheduled to berth at Venezuela’s Amuay terminal around 8 July, having loaded […]
Guaido Team Adds to PDVSA Ad Hoc Board
(Reuters, 1.Jul.2020) — Venezuela’s opposition-held National Assembly on Tuesday named three new members to an ad hoc board of directors for state Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), which controls some of the company’s most important overseas assets. It was the latest shakeup in opposition leader Juan Guaido’s overseas leadership team, which […]
Politics Entangling Exile PdV Board
(Argus, 1.Jul.2020) — An “ad hoc” board of state-owned PdV that is a key part of US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido’s parallel administration is running into political resistance in the run-up to National Assembly elections in early December. Ten deputies in the opposition-controlled assembly withheld support for three board appointments […]
Venezuelan Crude Arrives At Milazzo
(Argus, 1.Jul.2020) — A cargo of Venezuelan crude has arrived at the 235,000 b/d refinery run by Italy’s integrated Eni and Kuwait’s state-owned KPC at Milazzo, Sicily. Around 1mn bl is on board the Delta Tolmi waiting to discharge, and will be the first Venezuelan crude at Milazzo since February […]
Venezuela’s Oil Exports Sank In June To 77-year Low: Data
(Reuters, 1.Jul.2020) — Venezuela’s oil exports slumped in June to their lowest level since 1943 after half a dozen tankers, looking to avoid the threat of U.S. sanctions, sailed away from the nation’s waters without loading, according to vessel tracking data. The fall in oil exports has starved the socialist […]
Venezuela Tightens Grip On Fuel Stations
(Reuters, 28.Jun.2020) — Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA has told independent gas station operators it can revoke their licences “at any time”, only weeks after it cut generous fuel subsidies and as widespread shortages take hold, a notification PDVSA sent to the operators showed. PDVSA has a monopoly over the […]
PDVSA Weighs Plan To Pay For Refinery Work With Fuel
(Reuters, 25.Jun.2020) — Officials from Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela have spoken with private contractors about paying for work fixing the country’s refineries with fuel and byproducts, a half dozen people familiar with the talks said. The possibility of in-kind compensation comes as U.S. sanctions on PDVSA and […]
Tankers With Venezuelan Oil Stuck At Sea
(Reuters, 24.Jun.2020) — Tankers carrying nearly two months worth of Venezuelan oil output are stuck at sea as global refiners shun the nation’s crude to avoid falling foul of U.S. sanctions, according to industry sources, PDVSA documents and shipping data. Washington is tightening sanctions to cut Venezuela’s oil exports and […]
Tankers With Venezuelan Oil Unable To Unload
(Sputnik, 24.Jun.2020) — Earlier this month, the US Treasury Department announced that it was imposing Venezuela-related sanctions against four companies and four oil tankers belonging to these entities over their alleged involvement in the oil trade with the South American country. Reuters has quoted unnamed industry sources as saying that […]
Russia Backs Venezuela In Fight Against US
(Newsweek, 24.Jun.2020) — Russia vowed to support Venezuela in its campaign to counter U.S.-backed regime change after the Pentagon sailed warships nearby in the Caribbean to challenge the Latin American country. On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called Venezuela his country’s “reliable friend both in Latin America and in […]
Venezuela Wooed Texan Lawmaker To Ease Sanctions
(AP, 22.Jun.2020) — Venezuela’s socialist government tried to recruit then-Congressman Pete Sessions to broker a meeting with the CEO of Exxon Mobil at the same time it was secretly paying a close former House colleague $50 million to keep U.S. sanctions at bay, The Associated Press has learned. An official […]
Venezuela Wooed Texas Lawmaker To Ease Sanctions
(AP, 20.Jun.2020) — Venezuela’s socialist government tried to recruit then-Congressman Pete Sessions to broker a meeting with the CEO of Exxon Mobil at the same time it was secretly paying a close former House colleague $50 million to keep U.S. sanctions at bay, The Associated Press has learned. An official […]
End of Venezuela’s Oil Fortune Looms Over Maduro
(Bloomberg, 20.Jun.2020) — Oil revenue, the financial lifeline of Venezuela, is quickly drying up, adding to the growing instability of Nicolas Maduro’s embattled regime. Crude exports that once accounted for 95 percent of foreign currency inflow to the country tumbled by almost half this month, after hitting a 73-year low […]
End Of Venezuela’s Oil Fortune Looms Over Maduro
(Bloomberg, 20.Jun.2020) — Oil revenue, the financial lifeline of Venezuela, is quickly drying up, adding to the growing instability of Nicolas Maduro’s embattled regime. Crude exports that once accounted for 95 percent of foreign currency inflow to the country tumbled by almost half this month, after hitting a 73-year low […]
Guaido Team Favoring COP In Citgo Fight: Update
(Argus, 19.Jun.2020) — Another senior Venezuelan opposition figure has resigned following the government’s leak of a strategy to favor ConocoPhillips in an escalating battle for Venezuelan state-owned PdV’s US refining unit Citgo. Jose Ignacio Hernandez, who held the title of special attorney general in opposition leader Juan Guaido’s US-backed exiled […]
Guaido Team Favoring COP In Citgo Fight
(Argus, 19.Jun.2020) — Another senior Venezuelan opposition figure has resigned following the government’s leak of a strategy to favor ConocoPhillips in an escalating battle for Venezuelan state-owned PdV’s US refining unit Citgo. Jose Ignacio Hernandez, who held the title of special attorney general in opposition leader Juan Guaido’s US-backed exiled […]
US Sanctions Mexican Cos. Helping Venezuelan Oil
(Bloomberg, 18.Jun.2020) — The U.S. Treasury Department levied sanctions on Mexican trading company Libre Abordo SA de CV for buying Venezuelan oil via oil-for-humanitarian-aid agreements with the embattled country. Libre Abordo and its affiliate Schlager Business Group purchased 32 million barrels of crude oil this year to become the biggest […]
Treasury Targets Sanctions Evasion Network Supporting Corrupt Venezuelan Actors
(US Department of Treasury, 18.Jun.2020) — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated three individuals and eight foreign entities, and identified two vessels as blocked property for their activities in or associated with a network attempting to evade United States sanctions on Venezuela’s […]
Venezuela’s Oil Exports Fall As Contracts Get Suspended
(Reuters, 16.Jun.2020) — Venezuela’s oil exports have fallen nearly 28% in the first half of June, on course for the lowest level in over 70 years as tanker owners and operators suspend contracts for transporting crude oil, according to documents and data on Tuesday. Shipping firms are avoiding Venezuela after […]
Iran To Keep Offloading Fuel Glut To Venezuela
(Reuters, 15.Jun.2020) — Iran could send two to three cargoes a month in regular gasoline sales to ally Venezuela, sources say, helping offload domestic oversupply but risking retaliation from U.S. President Donald Trump who has sanctions on both nations. Iran has since April sent five tankers totaling about 1.5 million […]
Venezuela’s Oil Production In Free Fall
(Energy Analytics Institute, 15.Jun.2020) — Venezuela’s production of crude oil continues in a free fall, reaching 411,900 barrels per day on 15 June 2020, down by 206,800 barrels per day from an average 618,700 barrels per day in May, according to documents seen by Energy Analytics Institute. Average production through […]
Venezuela’s Oil Plunges To Lowest Level Since 1945
(Bloomberg, 13.Jun.2020) — Oil production in Venezuela, the country with the world’s largest reserves of crude, has fallen to a 75-year low with U.S. sanctions continuing to cripple the country’s exports. Venezuela’s state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA lowered its production estimates to 374,000 barrels a day as of […]
In Venezuela, One Rig Works World’s Biggest Reserves
(Bloomberg, 11.Jun.2020) — Venezuela’s fall from oil superpower to failing producer can be illustrated in one image: a single drilling rig working the world’s largest oil reserves. As fields across the nation shut amid a relentless U.S. campaign to cut Venezuela off from global oil markets, the number of rigs […]
Wave Of Venezuelan Oil Stalled At Sea
(Argus, 10.Jun.2020) — Vessel tracking data shows a fleet of 44 international tankers on the water holding 40.5mn bl of Venezuelan oil as shipowners face growing risk of US sanctions for transporting cargoes to and from the country. The tankers, which include 13 very large crude carriers (VLCCs), 12 Suezmaxes, […]
Restart Of Virgin Islands Refinery Delayed Again
(Argus, 10.Jun.2020) — The restart of an oil refinery in the US Virgin Islands is poised for another delay because of pandemic restrictions. The refinery was supposed to reopen in July after undergoing a $2bn overhaul by Limetree Bay Ventures, which is owned by US private equity firm Arclight Capital […]
Guaido Team Promises Fuel Surge In Venezuela
(Argus, 8.Jun.2020) — Venezuela’s US-backed political opposition is promising to restore stable fuel supply in two weeks if it takes power, kicking off with crude-for-products swaps. In an initial stage, such swaps would be carried out with Citgo, the US refining arm of Venezuela’s US-sanctioned national oil company PdV. Gasoline […]
Venezuela’s Gasoline System Fails To End Epic Lines
(Reuters, 7.Jun.2020) — Hundreds of Venezuelans queued up in miles-long lines to try to fill their cars with subsidized gasoline over the weekend, a week after President Nicolas Maduro launched a new dual-price system aimed at easing an acute fuel shortage. Maduro on May 30 announced the new system in […]
Chevron Oil Tangled In US Sanctions On Venezuela
(Reuters, 5.Jun.2020) — A Chevron Corp crude oil cargo has become embroiled in U.S. sanctions on shipping companies for violating restrictions on doing business with Venezuela, the company confirmed on Friday. Adamant Maritime Ltd, the owner of very large crude-oil carrier (VLCC) Seahero was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of […]
OPEC+ To Meet Saturday On Extending Cuts
(Reuters, 5.Jun.2020) — OPEC and its allies led by Russia will meet on Saturday to discuss extending record oil production cuts and to push laggards such as Iraq and Nigeria to comply with existing curbs. The producers known as OPEC+ previously agreed to cut supply by 9.7 million barrels per […]
Iran’s Message To US With Venezuela Oil Shipments
(Financial Times, 4.Jun.2020) — For the Islamic republic, it was a mission fraught with risk: send five Iranian-flagged fuel tankers through some of the world’s most crucial maritime gateways to cash-strapped Venezuela without being stopped by the Americans. With the shipment, Iran intended to send a clear message: that it […]
US Sanctions Four Firms For Transporting Venezuelan Oil
(Aljazeera, 2.Jun.2020) — The United States Treasury Department on Tuesday said it had sanctioned four shipping firms for transporting Venezuelan oil, the latest escalation in Washington’s effort to depose socialist President Nicolas Maduro by cutting off the OPEC nation’s crude exports. Marshall Islands-based Afranav Maritime Ltd, Adamant Maritime Ltd and […]
Venezuela’s Oil Exports Sink To 17-year Low On Sanctions
(Reuters, 2.Jun.2020) — Venezuela’s oil exports plummeted in May to their lowest level since 2003 as U.S. sanctions choked exports and two Mexican firms that had acted as intermediaries for Venezuelan crude sales stopped receiving oil, Refinitiv Eikon data and internal shipping documents from state-run energy company PDVSA showed. Washington […]
Mexico Probes Libre Abordo Pact With Venezuela
(Reuters, 2.Jun.2020) — The Mexican government’s financial crime department is investigating Libre Abordo, a Mexico-based firm that received millions of barrels of Venezuelan crude under an oil-for-food pact, in a probe coordinated with U.S. agencies, the department’s chief, Santiago Nieto, told Reuters. The Mexican Financial Intelligence Unit is also separately […]
CITGO Proposes $750mn Private Offering
(Citgo, 2.Jun.2020) — Citgo Petroleum Corporation has commenced a private offering exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, of $750 million aggregate principal amount of senior secured notes due 2025. The notes offering is subject to market and other conditions, and there is no assurance […]
Venezuela Rolls Out Two-tiered Fuel Pricing
(Argus, 1.Jun.2020) — A two-tiered gasoline pricing system rolled out by Venezuela today maintains generous subsidies for limited volumes but allows private-sector operators to charge international prices for imports. The new fuel rationing and pricing policy was unveiled over the weekend in separate addresses by President Nicolas Maduro and acting […]
Libre Abordo Announces Bankruptcy
(Reuters, 31.May.2020) — Mexico-based company Libre Abordo said on Sunday it was bankrupt and that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had terminated an oil-for-food agreement that had allowed the firm to supply water trucks in exchange for millions of barrels of Venezuelan crude. Libre Abordo and its related firm Schlager Business […]
Venezuela, In Historic Shift, Scales Back Fuel Subsidy
(WSJ, 31.May.2020) — The regime of Nicolás Maduro, grappling with intense gasoline shortages, said it will scale back its longstanding fuel subsidy and privatize service stations, in a significant shift for Venezuelans long accustomed to filling up their cars free of charge. The measures, which take effect on Monday, are […]
Trinidad-Venezuela Ties Omit Natural Gas For Now
(Argus, 29.May.2020) — Trinidad and Tobago declared explicit support for Venezuela’s US-sanctioned government this week, but the political ties will not revive natural gas cooperation in the near term because industrial demand has crumbled. Venezuela’s vast untapped offshore gas deposits and cross-border fields have long been seen as vital to […]
Tanker Petunia Accompanied By Air Force
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 29.May.2020) — Venezuelan military aircraft accompanied the Iranian tanker Petunia to a dock located on the OPEC country’s shores, announced Venezuelan official Vladimir Padrino L. in a post on Twitter. RELATED STORY: Iranina Tanker Faxon Docks At Guaraguao Refining Complex © Energy Analytics Institute (EAI). […]
Tanker Faxon Docks At Guaraguao Complex
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 29.May.2020) — The Iranian tanker Faxon, the fourth of a flotilla of five, docked at the Guaraguao refining complex in Anzoátegui state in Eastern Venezuela, according to details in a tweet posted by Venezuelan National Guard. RELATED STORY: Second Tanker Forest Reaches Venezuela Dock © […]
US Threatens Sanctions to Deter Iranian Tankers
(Dow Jones, 29.May.2020) — U.S. authorities have threatened tankers carrying Iranian fuel to Venezuela with sanctions, aiming to thwart a burgeoning economic alliance between two of America’s biggest rivals. Two Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned vessels loaded with Iran oil products and headed to Venezuela halted their deliveries after the sanctions threat, according […]
Maduro Considers Charging Citizens More For Petrol
(Al Jazeera, 28.May.2020) — Venezuela’s president hints that he could start charging for petrol, which is usually practically free for citizens. Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday his government must begin charging more for petrol and said he had directed a team of specialists to determine what the price […]
Q&A: PdV Exile Board Has ‘Levers’ To Keep Citgo
(Argus, 28.May.2020) — Luis Pacheco is chairman of a parallel board trying to exert control over the future of Venezuela’s state-owned PdV. Appointed by the National Assembly led by opposition leader Juan Guaido, Pacheco and other key members of Guaido’s team are fighting to keep the company’s US refining arm […]
Op-Ed: My Love Affair With Tulsa University
(Gustavo Coronel, 27.May2020) — An April morning in 1951, I left New York City for Tulsa, Oklahoma. I had been studying English for 15 weeks at Queens College before going on to The University of Tulsa to study geology. I had traveled to New York City from Los Teques, Venezuela, […]
Maduro Sends Iranian Oil To Cuba
(Panam Post, 27.May.2020) — A Cuban vessel arrived in Venezuela to allegedly provide the island gasoline that has just arrived from Iran. According to the Marine Traffic portal, this is the Petion ship, which sails under the Panamanian flag and departed from Cuba on May 21. It arrived this Monday […]
Maduro Vows To Raise Venezuelan Gasoline Price
(Reuters, 27.May.2020) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday pledged to begin charging citizens for gasoline, as the fourth cargo of a five-tanker flotilla bringing fuel from Iran approached the South American nation’s exclusive economic zone. Iran is providing the country with up to 1.53 million barrels of gasoline and […]
Third Iranian Fuel Cargo Approaches Venezuela
(Reuters, 26.May.2020) — The third cargo of an Iranian tanker flotilla carrying fuel for gasoline-thirsty Venezuela was approaching the nation’s exclusive economic zone on Tuesday as the previous two were preparing to discharge, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. The Iran-flagged tanker Petunia entered the Caribbean Sea on Monday after crossing […]
Second Iranian tanker Forest reaches Venezuelan loading dock
CARACAS, VENEZUELA (Piero Stewart, Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 26.May.2020, Words: 76) — The Iranian tanker Forest docked at the Cardon refinery located in the Paraguaná Refining Complex (CRP) located in Falcón state in western Venezuela, according to details posted by RT correspondent Erika Ortega Sanoja. A total of five […]