(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 […]
Tag: ConocoPhillips
COP’s Exploration Strategy From Norway To Argentina
(ConocoPhillips, 30.Mar.2020) — ConocoPhillips’ exploration strategy emphasized flexibility and discovering new barrels accretive to its existing portfolio. The company’s 2019 exploration focused on select business units: Alaska, Lower 48, Canada, Norway and Malaysia — where existing infrastructure and experience can be leveraged. In addition to these focus areas, ConocoPhillips concentrates […]
Conoco Seeks Seizure Of Citgo Parent
(Reuters, 26.Nov.2019) — U.S. oil company ConocoPhillips on Tuesday filed a motion in a Delaware court seeking to seize shares in the parent of U.S. refiner Citgo Petroleum to collect on an arbitration award against Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA. Citgo, a PDVSA subsidiary and Venezuela’s crown jewel overseas asset, […]
Colombia Fracking Pilots Could Start In Late 2020: Ecopetrol CEO
(Reuters, Jessica Resnick-Ault, 25.Sep.2019) — Colombia’s state-run oil company Ecopetrol will be ready to start fracking pilot projects in the second half of 2020, chief executive Felipe Bayon said on Wednesday, as oil companies await federal regulatory guidelines for the projects. The pilots are part of the Andean country’s efforts […]
Four Colombia fracking Projects Could Attract $5bn In Yearly Investments
(Reuters, 24.Sep.2019) — Four fracking pilot projects in Colombia could bring in $5 billion annually in investment once they are in the production phase, industry leaders said on Tuesday, as the country awaits regulation that will allow the projects to begin. The potential use of fracking in the Andean country […]
BP Sells Alaska Business To Hilcorp In $5.6bn Deal
(WoodMac, 27.Aug.2019) — Speaking after BP announced the sale of its Alaska business to Hilcorp in a US$5.6 billion deal, Wood Mackenzie analyst Rowena Gunn said: “The Majors are making progress with their divestment campaigns. This will mean long-held assets and territories will be let go. BP made such a […]
Wintershall Dea And ConocoPhillips Team Up In The Prolific Neuquén Basin
(Wintershall, 25.Jul.2019) — ConocoPhillips is a new partner in the Aguada Federal and Bandurria Norte blocks with Wintershall Dea. The two companies will advance the development of the significant Vaca Muerta shale resources in the blocks. Wintershall Dea is pleased to announce that it has signed a Sales and Purchase […]
Renewables Can Benefit The Upstream Business: WoodMac
(WoodMac, 12.Jun.2019) — One of the hottest topics at APPEA was how to use renewables to benefit an upstream business, rather than replace it. At APPEA, Darwin LNG operator ConocoPhillips said it would be the first LNG facility globally to use batteries to run plant turbines. Similarly, Woodside is installing […]
Venezuela Makes Multimillion-dollar Payment To Retain Citgo
(Houston Business Journal, Olivia Pulsinelli, 28.Nov.2018) — Houston-based refiner Citgo Holding Inc. will remain owned by Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PetrĂłleos de Venezuela SA, if PDVSA follows through with the terms of a settlement. According to multiple reports, the settlement will resolve an arbitration claim from Crystallex International Corp., a […]
PDVSA In Talks Over 2nd Sea-Borne Oil-Transfer Operation
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga, 22.Nov.2018) — Venezuela’s state-run oil firm PDVSA has begun talks with shipping firms to set up a second ship-to-ship (STS) operation off the country’s eastern coast in an effort to increase sagging crude exports, according to three people familiar with the matter. PDVSA this year began sea-borne […]
Chevron Stayed In Venezuela Long After Rivals Quit
(Wall Street Journal, Kejal Vyas and Bradley Olson, 8.Nov.2018) — For nearly a century, Chevron Corp. has weathered dictatorships, coups and nationalization drives to keep pumping oil in Venezuela. But recently, executives at the last U.S. oil major in the country have debated whether it may be time to get out, […]
Bondholders Raise Hopes Venezuela Will Pay Up On Due Debt
(Ft.com, Gideon Long, 25.Oct.2018) — In a month in which emerging market government bonds have been hammered by the prospect of US rate increases, geopolitical risk and fears of a US-China trade spat, one bond — in crisis-racked Venezuela of all places — has rallied to record highs. The 2020 […]
Conoco Is Collecting $2 Billion From Venezuela—One Barrel of Oil at a Time
(Bloomberg, Alex Nussbaum, 25.Oct.2018) — ConocoPhillips’ decade-old legal war with Venezuela began paying off this week as the embattled Latin American country started making good on a $2 billion arbitration settlement one barrel of crude at a time. Venezuela’s state-run oil company has made an initial $345 million payment in […]
PDVSA Prepares To Make $949 Mln Payment On Citgo-Backed Bond
(Bloomberg, 24.Oct.2018) — Petroleos de Venezuela SA’s plan to make a $949 million bond payment would mark a rare exception for Nicolas Maduro’s regime as it tries to hold on to the crown jewel of its U.S. assets. Venezuela’s state-run oil company is preparing to make the coupon and partial […]
Venezuela Wants To Overhaul State Oil Firm PDVSA
(Oilprice.com, Tsvetana Paraskova, 7.Sep.2018) — Venezuela has set up a commission that will be working to reshuffle and reorganize its state oil firm PDVSA in the next few months, according to the country’s Official Gazette on Thursday, in what would be the latest Venezuelan attempt to show that it is […]
Tanker Backlog Builds Again in Venezuela
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga, 6.Sep.2018) — Crude exports by Venezuela’s PDVSA have slowed after a tanker collision at its main port last month disrupted operations, adding to a backlog of vessels waiting to load, according to shipping sources and Reuters data. Oil is the financial lifeline for the embattled socialist government […]
PDVSA and ConocoPhillips Reach New, Positive Settlement
(Citgo, 21.Aug.2018) — As officially reported by PetrĂłleos 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 RamĂrez Says Maduro Destroyed PDVSA
(Energy Analytics Institute, Jared Yamin, 19.Aug.2018) – Former PDVSA President Rafael RamĂrez 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 […]
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 […]
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 (PetrĂłleos 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) […]
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. […]
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 […]
No End In Sight For Venezuela’s Oil Crisis
(OilPrice.com, Nick Cunningham, 12.Jul.2018) – Venezuela’s oil production plunged by another 47,500 barrels per day (bpd) in June, compared to a month earlier. An exodus of workers and field shut downs were reported for the month, pointing to a grim near-term future that could see total production dip below 1 […]
China to Invest $250 mln to Boost Venezuela’s Oil Sector
(Bloomberg, 4.Jul.2018) – Venezuela’s distressed oil sector may get some much needed financing from China, Finance Minister Simon Zerpa said after meetings with officials from China Development Bank and China National Petroleum Corporation. China Development Bank will invest more than US$250 million to boost Venezuela oil production in the Orinoco […]
Venezuela’s Declining Crude Exports Squeeze India’s Refiners
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga, 3.Jul.2018) – Venezuela’s crude shipments to India, its third largest export market, fell 21 percent in the first half of the year, according to internal documents from state-run PDVSA, adding to supply troubles for Indian refiners as they are increasingly pressed to diversify oil imports. Venezuela’s production […]
China Throws Venezuela’s Oil Industry $5B Lifeline
(OilPrice.com, Irina Slav) – China’s Development Bank has approved a US$5-billion loan for Venezuela’s oil industry, Bloomberg reports, quoting the troubled South American country’s Finance Minister Simon Zerpa. “We’ve received the authorization for a direct investment of more than $250 million from China Development Bank to increase PDVSA production, and […]
PdV Restarting PetroPiar Upgrader
(Argus, 26.Jun.2018) – Venezuelan state-owned PdV is restarting its 210,000 b/d PetroPiar upgrader this week after completing month-long repairs, PdV and energy ministry officials said. Chevron, which has a 30pc stake in Petropiar, is “working closely” with PdV to restart the facility, the PdV executive said. Chevron regularly declines to […]
Venezuelan Oil Output Charting New Lows
(UPI, Daniel J. Graeber, 19.Jun.2018) – Ahead of what could be pivotal talks among OPEC members, production from founding member Venezuela could hit new lows soon, an industry report found. State-backed oil company PetrĂłleos de Venezuela, known commonly as PDVSA, notified 11 of its international customers earlier this month that […]
Conoco Authorized to Seize $636 Mln in PDVSA Assets
(Reuters, 13.May.2018) – A Curacao court has authorized ConocoPhillips to seize about $636 million in assets belonging to Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA due to the 2007 nationalization of the U.S. oil major’s projects in Venezuela. The legal action was the latest in the Caribbean to enforce a $2 billion […]
ConocoPhillips’s Chilean Interests
(Energy Analytics Institute, Aaron Simonsky, 25.Apr.2018) — ConocoPhillips is active in Chile in the Coiron Block in the Magallanes Basin, the company reported in a Fact Sheet updated on its website in March 2018. A short summary of its Chilean interest follows: — Coiron Block: Partners in the block include: […]
ConocoPhillips’s Interest in Colombia
(Energy Analytics Institute, Aaron Simonsky, 25.Apr.2018) — ConocoPhillips is active in Colombia in the Middle Magdalena Basin at VMM-3 and VMM-2, where it serves as operator at both blocks, the company reported in a Fact Sheet updated on its website in March 2018. A short summary of its Colombian interests […]
ICSID Orders Ecuador Pay ConocoPhillips $380 Mln
(ConocoPhillips, 8.Feb.2017) – ConocoPhillips’ wholly owned subsidiary, Burlington Resources Inc., received an arbitration award of $380 million from an international arbitration tribunal, constituted under the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), for Ecuador’s unlawful expropriation of Burlington’s significant investment in breach of the U.S.-Ecuador bilateral investment treaty. […]
Venezuela Seeks Disqualification of ICSID Judges
(Energy Analytics Institute, Jared Yamin, 26.Mar.2015) – Venezuela presented a letter to the ICSID court requesting the dismissal of judge Kenneth Keith. Keith is the president of the arbitration tribunal in the case brought to the court by ConocoPhillips in its wrongful expropriation case against the government of Venezuela which […]
Venezuela Seizes Helmerich & Payne Rigs
(TulsaWorld, Rod Walton, 2.Jul.2010) – The action comes amid a payment dispute in which the company left the equipment idle. Helmerich & Payne’s 52-year business relationship with Venezuela came to at least a temporary end Thursday as President Hugo Chavez’s government seized 11 rigs owned by the Tulsa contract drilling […]