(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 25.Aug.2018) — Valero’s old Aruba refinery will be revitalized as an upgrader. PDVSA announced the San Nicolás Refinery located in Aruba will be converted into an upgrader in order to process extra-heavy oil from Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt, also known as the […]
Category: Venezuela
Venezuela energy
Trinidad Inks Gas Deal With Venezuela To Continue LNG Exports
(Bloomberg, Ryan Collins and Kelly Gilblom, 25.Aug.2018) — Trinidad and Tobago will continue to ship super-chilled natural gas all over the world, with a little help from Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro and Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley signed a deal Saturday where Trinidad will purchase gas from Venezuela’s […]
Venezuela to Send Dragón Gas to Trinidad
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 25.Aug.2018) — Venezuela will send its Dragón field natural gas to Trinidad for processing. That’s according to a deal signed today in Caracas between the governments of Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela, reported Venezuela’s Ministry of Petroleum in a series of tweets. The countries were […]
Trinidad and Venezuela to Sign Gas Agreement
(CMC, 24.Aug.2018) — Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley will lead a delegation to Venezuela tomorrow to sign an agreement for the development of the across border gas from the Venezuelan Dragon Gas Field, according to an official statement issued here. The statement from the Office of the Prime Minister noted […]
Rosneft May Challenge Crystallex Claim To Citgo Shares
(Oilprice.com, Irina Slav, 23.Aug.2018) — Rosneft has asked a U.S. federal court to establish “a robust appraisal and sale process” of Citgo shares following Canadian miner Crystallex’ win at court against the parent company of Citgo, PDVSA, Argus Media reports citing documents submitted by Rosneft to court. “Such a course […]
Exec Pleads in $1.2 Bln Venezuelan Money-Laundering scheme
(AP, 22.Aug.2018) — A former Swiss bank executive has pleaded guilty to his role in a $1.2 billion money-laundering scheme involving Venezuela’s state-run oil and natural gas company. Federal court records show that 44-year-old Matthias Krull pleaded guilty in Miami federal court on Wednesday to conspiracy to commit money laundering. […]
Oil Workers Support Maduro’s Economic Plans
(Energy Analytics Institute, Ian Silverman, 21.Aug.2018) — Oil workers at state oil company PDVSA marched in Caracas and across the country to show their continued support of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro in the aftermath of recent economic announcements by the official. ***
Dragon Gas Deal Finalised Tomorrow
(Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, Carla Bridglal, 21.Aug.2018) – After nearly two years of negotiations between this country and Venezuela the deal that will allow TT to process gas from the Dragon gas field is expected to be finalised tomorrow. A release from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) said […]
Venezuela Takes Action To Stabilize Currency
(ZeroHedge, 21.Aug.2018) – As previewed yesterday, on Monday Venezuela officially slashed five zeros from prices and its currency as part of what has been dubbed one of the greatest currency devaluations in history which slashed the value of the official bolivar by 95 percent, an overhaul that President Nicolas Maduro […]
Magnitude 7.3 Quake in Venezuela Felt in Guyana
(Stabroek News, 21.Aug.2018) – A powerful earthquake has hit the northern coast of Venezuela with a magnitude of 7.3, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It had been originally reported as a 6.8 event but this has since been upgraded to 7.3. Reuters reported that the quake, which was centred […]
PDVSA to Resume Use of Caribbean Terminal Under NuStar Deal
(Reuters, 21.Aug.2018) — Venezuela’s PDVSA and NuStar Energy LP have reached an agreement over outstanding storage fees, allowing the state-run company to resume use of a key storage terminal in the Caribbean, the U.S. energy firm said on Monday. NuStar had suspended PDVSA several times since 2017 from using its […]
Venezuela’s Oil-linked Cryptocurrency Leaves Heads Spinning
(Bloomberg, Andrew Rosati & Fabiola Zerpa, 21.Aug.2018) — Beaten-down Venezuela on Tuesday began confronting a 95 percent currency devaluation and a regimen of economic controls that, after years of hunger and hyperinflation, landed like a hassle rather than a cataclysm. Caracas returned to work after a holiday weekend that saw […]
PDVSA and ConocoPhillips Reach New, Positive Settlement
(Citgo, 21.Aug.2018) — As officially reported by Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) and ConocoPhillips, the two companies recently reached a settlement agreement resulting from the nationalization of the Hamaca and Petrozuata projects in 2007. As background, ConocoPhillips initiated arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), demanding that PDVSA pay […]
Venezuela Agrees to Pay $2 Bln Over Seizure of Oil Projects
(The New York Times, Clifford Krauss, 20.Aug.2018) – More than a decade ago, Venezuela seized several oil projects from the American oil company ConocoPhillips without compensation. Now, under pressure after ConocoPhillips carried out its own seizures, the Venezuelans are going to make amends. ConocoPhillips announced on Monday that the state […]
Rafael Ramírez Says Maduro Destroyed PDVSA
(Energy Analytics Institute, Jared Yamin, 19.Aug.2018) – Former PDVSA President Rafael Ramírez says Venezuela produced 3 million barrels per day until December 2013. That figure has dropped by 1.8 million, according to his statements. “When we were in the revolutionary government of Comandante Chávez, we had fiscal balance and enough […]
Cure for Venezuela’s Mercantilism, Rentism Disease
(EnergyNomics, Carlos A Rossi, 18.Aug.2018) – Are natural resource endowed countries victims of their own wealth? Is there a richness threshold beyond which the institutions designed to protect a country’s citizens turn against them and become their worst enemy by annihilating their productive apparatus riddling it with the miseries of […]
Former PDVSA Director Detained in Argentina
(Energy Analytics Institute, Ian Silverman, 17.Aug.2018) – A former PDVSA director has been detained and accused of money laundering. Luis Abraham Bastidas Ramírez, the cousin of former PDVSA President Rafael Ramírez, was detained in Argentina, wrote reporter Dean Rojas in a tweet on his personal twitter account. Ramírez’s capture was […]
Jusepin Oil Region in Venezuela: 45 Seconds of Fame
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 17.Aug.2018) – Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado tours the Jusepin petroleum region in Venezuela. https://twitter.com/i/status/1030477377988710401 Jusepin is just one of many petroleum-rich areas in Venezuela, the country with the world’s largest oil reserves. ***
Venezuelan Oil Assets to be Seized by Creditors
(Express, Simon Osborne, 16.Aug.2018) – Venezuela’s oil assets are being targeted by angry creditors after a US court granted a Canadian mining company permission to send in the bailiffs. Firms owed billions by the beleaguered South American country and its state-owned oil firm PDVSA are now lining up to make […]
Guyana to Become 5th Largest Oil Producer in LAC Region
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 15.Aug.2018) – If all goes off as planned, by 2025, Guyana will be the 5th largest oil producer in the Latin American and Caribbean region. That’s according to an analysis of data posted by Trading Economics, and extrapolation of estimates of Guyana’s future oil production, […]
PDVSA Leaves Argentine Gas Station to Fend for Itself
(Reuters, Luc Cohen, 15.Aug.2018) – As Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA saw its finances devastated by low oil prices and mismanagement, it funneled millions of dollars to Petrolera del Conosur (PSUR.BA), a loss-making Argentine gas station operator it controls. PDVSA decided to cut off the support payments late last year, […]
Venezuela Petrol Prices Need to Rise to Stop Smuggling
(Reuters, Deisy Buitrago and Brian Ellsworth, 14.Aug.2018) – Venezuela’s heavily subsidised domestic gasoline prices should rise to international levels to avoid billions of dollars in annual losses due to fuel smuggling, president Nicolas Maduro has said. “Gasoline must be sold at an international price to stop smuggling to Colombia and […]
OPEC MOMR Shows Further Oil Declines in Venezuela
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 14.Aug.2018) – Venezuela’s crude oil production declines seem unstoppable. Venezuela’s crude oil production fell to 1.278 million barrels per day (MMb/d) in July 2018 compared to 1.325 MMb/d in June 2018 based on secondary sources, reported OPEC in its August Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR). […]
Technology, New Innovations and the LatAm Energy Sector
(Energy Analytics Institute, Pietro D. Pitts, 14.Aug.2018) – The ability to use hydraulic fracturing to tap shale formations, to remotely monitor and manage assets, and use advanced technology to heat reservoirs, are a few of the many new innovations used in the capital intense hydrocarbon sector. Faced with rising competition […]
Venezuela Petrol To Rise to Int’l Levels
(Energy Analytics Institute, Ian Silverman, 13.Aug.2018) — The price of Venezuela’s subsidized petrol, long one of the cheapest in world, is set to rise. Effective August 20, 2018, the price of Venezuela’s petrol will cost the same as in international markets, reported PDVSA in an official statement, citing comments from […]
Venezuela’s Citgo Refineries At Risk Of Seizure
(Forbes, Robert Rapie, 12.Aug.2018) – In 2007, following Venezuela’s expropriation of billions of dollars of assets from U.S. companies like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, I suggested a potential remedy. Since Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.) owns the Citgo refineries in the U.S., I felt the companies that […]
Is Venezuelan Oil Output Falling Faster Than Expected?
(OilPrice.com, Nick Cunningham, 12.Aug.2018) – The bad news from Venezuela continues. In July, Venezuela’s oil production came in lower than PDVSA had targeted, according to Argus Media. While PDVSA had hoped that it, along with its joint venture partners, would produce as much as 1.65 million barrels per day (mb/d) […]
Citgo Petroleum Company Profile
(Energy Analytics Institute, Aaron Simonsky, 11.Aug2018) – Houston-based Citgo Petroleum Corporation is the refining arm of Venezuela’s Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA). What follows is a brief company profile. Citgo, a Delaware corporation with headquarters in Houston, refines, markets, and transports gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, lubricants, petrochemicals, and other […]
World Bank Says Oil To Average $65 in 2019
(Energy Analytics Institute, Jared Yamin, 12.Aug2018) – The World Bank expects the price of oil to average $65 per barrel in 2019. “Oil prices are expected to average $65 per barrel in 2019. While projections indicate that prices will fall from their April 2018 level, they should be supported by […]
Crystallex Cuts Others In Line for Citgo Assets
(Energy Analytics Institute, Jared Yamin, 11.Aug.2018) – Crystallex seems to have cut in line while there are many others already in line for CITGO assets and value. What follows are comments published by Venezuelan oil analyst Francisco Monaldi in a series of tweets related to the legal battle over CITGO: […]
Crystallex Wins Right To Tap Citgo For Compensation
(OilPrice.com, Irina Slav, 10.Aug.2018) – Canadian gold miner Crystallex was ruled the winner in a long-running case against Venezuela, which it has sued for the forced nationalization of its assets by the Hugo Chavez government. A U.S. federal judge this week awarded the miner the right to approach Venezuela’s U.S. […]
PDVSA President Says Venezuela Production Stabilized
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 10.Aug.2018) – PDVSA President Manuel Quevedo assured that Venezuelan crude oil production had stabilized. Quevedo, who also serves as Venezuela’s Petroleum Minister, said last week that “our production is approximately 1.5 million barrels a day for the first half of 2018.” Those remarks were made […]
PDVSA Cut Debt to Rosneft $400 Mln in Q2
(Neftegaz.RU, 10.Aug.2018) – According to Platts, Venezuela’s state oil and gas company PDVSA cut its debt to Russia’s top crude producer Rosneft by $400 million in the 2nd quarter to $3.6 billion as of the end of June, Rosneft’s 2nd-quarter results presentation showed this week. Rosneft agreed prepayment deals for […]
Venezuela Facing Compounding Oil Woes
(UPI, Daniel J. Graeber, 10.Aug.2018) – Though it holds the largest reserves of oil in the world, production levels put it only in the middle of the pack among OPEC member states. Venezuelan plans to stabilize crude oil production do little to address bottlenecks and the shortage of investments, an […]
PDVSA Appeals Ruling Regarding Citgo Seizure
(AFP, 10.Aug.2018) – Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA on Friday appealed a US court ruling that would allow a Canadian mining company to seize shares of PDVSA’s US-subsidiary Citgo in payment of a $1.2 billion debt. The case dates from 2011, when the Venezuelan government seized a mine Crystallex had […]
Analysts: Only a Matter of Time Before Venezuela Loses Citgo
(Houston Chronicle, Jordan Blum, 10.Aug.2018) – Financially crippled Venezuela likely will lose control of its Houston refining arm Citgo Petroleum once a slew of lawsuits eventually are resolved, and it’s just a matter of when and to whom, finance and energy analysts said Friday. A federal judge ruled late Thursday […]
Venezuela’s Oil Sales to U.S. in July Below 500 Mb/d
(Reuters, 10.Aug.2018) – Venezuela’s crude exports to the United States declined to 494,400 barrels per day (bpd) in July after rising the prior three months, showing the impact of asset seizures against state-run oil firm PDVSA, according to Thomson Reuters data. July was the first month crude exports fell below […]
Crystallex Court Win Against Venezuela Aided by Finding
(Reuters, Brian Ellsworth, 10.Aug.2018) – Crystallex’s victory in a legal battle with Venezuela that paves the way for it to collect a $1.4 billion award hinged on a finding that state oil company PDVSA is not separate from the Venezuelan government, court documents showed on Friday. The U.S. District Court […]
U.S. Judge Authorizes Seizure of Venezuela’s Citgo
(The Wall Street Journal, Andrew Scurria and Julie Wernau, 9.Aug.2018) – A U.S. federal judge authorized the seizure of Citgo Petroleum Corp. to satisfy a Venezuelan government debt, a ruling that could set off a scramble among Venezuela’s many unpaid creditors to wrest control of its only obviously seizable U.S. […]
Crystallex Can Go After Venezuela’s US Refineries
(Associated Press, 9.Aug.2018) – A Canadian gold mining company on Thursday won the right to go after Venezuela’s prized U.S.-based oil refineries and collect $1.4 billion it lost in a decade-old take-over by the late socialist President Hugo Chavez. Chief Judge Leonard P. Stark of the U.S. Federal District Court […]
PdV, Joint Ventures Miss Oil Targets
(Argus, 9.Aug.2018) – Venezuela’s state-owned PdV and its joint ventures fell short of officially targeted crude production by more than 125,000 b/d in July, according to an internal PdV upstream report obtained by Argus. The steepest shortfalls were registered in the Orinoco heavy oil belt — long touted by the […]
Venezuela, Saudi Arabia Discuss Partnerships
(Energy Analytics Institute, Ian Silverman, 8.Aug.2018) — Officials from both OPEC countries discussed existing energy partnerships during their meeting in Caracas. Venezuela was represented by its Petroleum Minister Manuel Quevedo, while Saudi Arabia was represented by its Ambassador to Venezuela Saad Bin Abdullah al Saad, reported PDVSA in an official […]
Helmerich & Payne Wins Right to Sue Venezuela
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 8.Aug2018) – U.S. drilling company Helmerich & Payne won a judgment from the U.S. Court of Appeal to sue Venezuela for the expropriation of the company’s investments in Venezuela. This was only a preliminary jurisdictional issue, not a money judgment, mind you — just the […]
Unsealing Crystallex/PDVSA Documents
(Energy Analytics Institute, Ian Silverman, 8.Aug.2018) – Chief Judge Stark of the US Federal District Court in Delaware immediately agreed with our arguments calling out the abuse of sealing by Crystallex, Venezuela and PDVSA, writes Caracas Capital Markets Managing Partner Russ Dallen in an emailed note to clients. He entered […]
Venezuela Dodges Oil Asset Seizures
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga, Mircely Guanipa, 7.Aug.2018) – Reuters) – Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA has limited the damage from an unprecedented slump in crude exports by transferring oil between tankers at sea and loading vessels in neighboring Cuba to avoid asset seizures. But the OPEC member nation is still fulfilling […]
Venezuela’s Oil Production Turning a Corner?
(FoxBusinss, Leia Klingel, 7.Aug.2018) – Oil production by Venezuela’s PDVSA may have started to improve, with the state-owned oil and gas producer reporting that production in the country is averaging 1.5 million barrels per day, as reported by Reuters. As reported by OilPrice.com, according to OPEC secondary sources, Venezuela’s oil […]
Venezuela Is Oil Market’s Bizarro World
(S&P Global Platts, Nastassia Astrasheuskaya, 7.Aug.2018) – Venezuela’s state oil and gas company PDVSA cut its debt to Russia’s top crude producer Rosneft by $400 million in the second quarter to $3.6 billion as of the end of June, Rosneft’s second-quarter results presentation showed Tuesday. Rosneft agreed prepayment deals for […]
US Abandons Sanctions to Avoid Owning Venezuela Collapse
(S&P Global Platts, Brian Shield, 7.Aug.2018) – Just more than a year ago, it was not a question of ‘if’, but ‘when.’ As Venezuela’s leftist leader Nicolas Maduro consolidated power in an election derided as a fraud by the international community, the Trump administration readied exacting sanctions on the South […]
Venezuela Waiving All Taxes on Profits from PDVSA
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 7.Aug2018) – Aside from wasting paper, more importantly, the recent Gaceta Oficial in Venezuela also has a decree from President Nicolas Maduro waiving all taxes on profits from state oil company PDVSA and the joint ventures for all of 2018. Interestingly, the decree seeks to […]
How Venezuela Gets Plundered
(DW.com, Andreas Knobloch, 6.Aug.2018) – A money-laundering scandal involving Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA could turn into a problem for a Swiss bank. A German banker recently affiliated with the lender has been arrested in Miami. When it comes to the causes behind the severe economic and supply crisis in […]