Iran Activates Game Plan For Oil Comeback In 2021
(Platts, 9.Feb.2021) — Emboldened by the change in US presidency, Iran is pushing more oil onto the market, even as sanctions remain in place, as it looks ahead to a...
Trump Hits Venezuela With Sanctions
(AP, 19.Jan.2021) — The Trump administration issued a parting shot at Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Tuesday, announcing a sweeping round of stiff financial sanctions that target a network accused...
Maduro Accuses Donald Trump Of Attacks On CRP
(Energy Analytics Institute, 15.Jan.2021) — Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro reiterated earlier claims that US President Donald Trump ordered the sabotage of the OPEC country’s Amuay and Cardón refineries in Punto...
Venezuela’s Oil Exports Sink To 1940’s Level
(Reuters, 4.Jan.2021) — Pressured by strict U.S. sanctions, Venezuela’s oil exports plunged by 376,500 barrels per day (bpd) in 2020, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and internal documents from state-run...
Biden To Seek Talks With Maduro Regime
(Bloomberg, 18.Dec.2020) — President-elect Joe Biden’s advisers are preparing to negotiate with Nicolas Maduro’s regime in Venezuela in an effort to end the Western Hemisphere’s worst economic and humanitarian crisis,...
Biden White House Faces A Rising China
(Reuters, 14.Dec.2020) — Donald Trump was clear with Latin America during his four-year administration: don’t do business with China. The message failed to hit home. As President-elect Joe Biden readies...
Venezuela’s New Assembly To Battle Sanctions
(Argus, 7.Dec.2020) — Venezuela's National Assembly elections yesterday thrust the Opec country's last democratic institution under the thumb of President Nicolas Maduro, who has defied US oil sanctions for close...
India Looks To Resume Iran, Venezuela Oil Imports
(Reuters, 2.Dec.2020) — India wants to diversify its oil imports, including the resumption of supplies from Iran and Venezuela, after U.S. President-elect Joe Biden takes office, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan...
Chevron Eyes Biden To Preserve Venezuela Foothold
(Bloomberg, 18.Nov.2020) — Chevron’s willingness to keep a foothold in oil-rich Venezuela will now be a thorny political issue for President-elect Joe Biden to sort out. The U.S. Treasury Department...
Latin America Peers Warily Into US Election Mirror
(Argus, 30.Oct.2020) — The region's recovery from Covid-19 will depend heavily on who is dictating US policy, writes Patricia Garip. Waves of political chaos that recurrently engulf Latin America were...
US Energy Policy Front And Center In US Elections
(WoodMac, 21.Oct.2020) — The 2020 elections bring US energy policy to a clear fork in the road. A second term for President Donald Trump would mean a continuation of the...
What Oil Spill In Venezuela Tells Us About Its Politics
(Javier Corrales, 7.Sep.2020) — The largest oil reserves and one of the world’s most incompetent governments have brought authoritarianism, economic collapse and environmental disaster to the country. It has been...
Brazil Eyes Temporary Quota For Tariff-free Ethanol
(Reuters, 1.Sep.2020) — Brazil is studying the resumption of a zero-tariff quota for its ethanol imports, but only for three months, aimed at getting the United States to negotiate better...
US’ Abrams Eyes Tighter Sanctions On Venezuela
(Reuters, 31.Aug.2020) — The Trump administration is looking to tighten oil sanctions on Venezuela in the near future, top U.S. envoy for the country told Reuters on Monday, by potentially...
Trump Seeks To Slap More Sanctions On Venezuela
(Oilprice.com, 19.Aug.2020) — The U.S. federal government is considering more sanctions to add to a list aimed at severing the lifeline between the Venezuelan government and oil revenues that, according...
US Eyes October To End Exemptions On Venezuela
(Reuters, 19.Aug.2020) — The United States is considering an October deadline for ending exemptions to Venezuelan sanctions that allow some companies and refiners to still receive the South American producer's...
Trump Govt Weighs Tighter Sanctions On Venezuelan Oil
(Bloomberg, 18.Aug.2020) — The Trump administration is considering additional sanctions on Venezuela aimed at halting the remaining fuel transactions permitted with the South American nation, according to people familiar with...
Saudi Arabia Turns Off America’s Oil Taps Again
(Bloomberg, 9.Aug.2020) — The strategy worked wonders in 2017. It will be more challenging this time around unless the pandemic eases its grip on oil demand. For the second time...
Trump Hits Wall With Bid To Place Ally At LatAm Bank
(Bloomberg, 7.Aug.2020) — Mexico called for delaying the election of a new chief for a key Latin American development bank amid controversy caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to...
Sisi Wins Approval For Possible Libya Intervention
(Reuters, 20.Jul.2020) — Egypt’s parliament gave President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi the green light for possible military intervention in Libya by approving the deployment of armed forces abroad to fight “terrorist groups”...
New Players Emerge In Venezuela Amid Sanctions
(AP, 13.Jul.2020) — As U.S. sanctions scare away the world’s largest shippers from Venezuela’s oil industry, new players are willing to brave the heightened risks and help keep socialist leader...
Iran Sets Out Conditions For Renewed Talks With The US
(Argus, 24.Jun.2020) — Iranian president Hassan Rohani has reiterated Iran's willingness to resume talks with the US, but only if Washington apologises for withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, returns...
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....
Shipping Magnate Faces US Sanctions Probe
(Reuters, 12.Jun.2020) — The United States is investigating a Venezuelan shipping magnate for possibly violating U.S. sanctions by bringing fuel to gasoline-short Venezuela, according to two senior Trump administration officials....
Petrobras To Not Hire Tankers That Visited Venezuela
(Reuters, 12.Jun.2020) — Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA has told shippers it will not hire any tankers that have visited Venezuela in the past 12 months, the state-controlled oil company said...
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...
Iran’s 4th Fuel Tanker Nears Venezuelan Waters
(Fars News Agency, 28.May.2020) — Iran's fourth tanker full of gasoline has entered the Caribbean and is close to the Venezuelan territorial waters. Venezuelan armed forces are due to escort...
Venezuelan Oil Plan Runs Aground
(Argus, 8.May.2020) — A sweeping proposal to draw investment into an Opec nation would normally turn some heads. That is what Venezuela’s US-backed political opposition had been expecting when it...
Trump Tells Chevron To “Wind Down” In Venezuela
(AP, 21.Apr.2020) — The Trump administration on Tuesday ordered Chevron Corp. to “wind down” operations in Venezuela by Dec. 1, barring the California-based oil giant in the meantime from drilling...
The Unexpected Holdout To A Global Oil Production Deal
(Bloomberg, 10.Apr.2020) — One of the most dramatic global oil production agreements in history has been left hanging on the approval of an unlikely character: Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez...
Venezuela Gasoline Shortages Worsen
(Reuters, 8.Apr.2020) — Gasoline shortages in Venezuela are worsening after U.S. officials have told foreign firms to refrain from supplying the fuel to the sanctioned South American nation and only...
Crisis Stricken Venezuela Faces Mounting Pressure
(Oilprice.com, 6.Apr.2020) — Over the past weeks, the Trump Administration has tightened the noose around Nicolas Maduro’s regime, increasing pressure on the country sitting on top of the world’s largest...
Venezuela’s Oil Output Falls To Five-month Low
(Reuters, 30.Mar.2020) — Venezuela’s crude production ended last week at around 670,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to documents seen by Reuters and two people with access to output data,...
Trump Wants Pressure Raised On Maduro
(Bloomberg, 21.Feb.2020) — President Donald Trump is frustrated that pressure is building too slowly on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and is still considering military options in the country, including a...
US Blacklists Rosneft Unit
(Reuters, 18.Feb.2020) — The United States on Tuesday tightened financial restrictions on Venezuela, blacklisting a subsidiary of Russian state oil major Rosneft that President Donald Trump's administration has said provides...
Venezuela, Rosneft and US Sanctions Complications
(S&P Global Platts, 18.Feb.2020) — US efforts to starve Venezuela’s Maduro regime of oil revenues have substantially increased the role of Russian energy in the US Gulf Coast, an outcome...
Trinidad Cancels Gas Deal Over US Sanctions
(Aljazeera, 3 Feb 2020) — Trinidad and Tobago has cancelled an agreement with Venezuela for the joint development of a natural gas field straddling their maritime border because of United...
Rosneft Undermining US Plans In Venezuela?
(Atlantic Council, Matthew Bryza, 27.Nov.2019) — US President Donald Trump is conducting policies of “maximum pressure” on two countries, Venezuela and Iran. In Venezuela, Russia’s state-owned oil company, Rosneft, actively...
Guaido Team Proposes Truce To PDVSA Bondholders
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga and Corina Pons, 18.Oct2019) — Venezuela's opposition last week sent holders of state oil company PDVSA's 2020 bond a proposal to suspend legal actions for 90 days,...
Venezuela’s Prize Oil Asset May Soon Be Up For Grabs
(Oilprice.com, Tsvetana Paraskova, 16.Oct.2019) — Venezuela’s opposition is getting ready to file within days a lawsuit in the United States seeking to prevent bond holders of Venezuelan state oil firm...
CITGO Key To Trump’s Venezuela Strategy
(Forbes, Ariel Cohen, 8.Oct.2019) — At last month’s United Nations General Assembly, the Lima Group, the U.S.-led coalition of 14 countries in the Americas seeking a solution to the Venezuela...
Energy Cos Caught In Spat Over Venezuela Sanctions
(Chron, Sergio Chapa, 7.Oct.2019) — Frequent power outages, theft of equipment, a political tug-of-war and billions of dollars in losses would seem to signal to businesses that it’s time to...
Bolton Exit Shifts Oil Market Outlook
(Bloomberg, Lucia Kassai and David Wethe, 10.Sep.2019) — The firing of U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton gave oil markets some near-term supply comfort, while analysts were divided on whether...
U.S. Expands Sanctions Against Venezuela
(WSJ, Vivian Salama, 6.Aug.2019) — The Trump administration imposed a total economic embargo against the government of Venezuela, a significant escalation of pressure against the regime of President Nicolás Maduro...
Trump Imposes New Curbs In Bid To Pressure Maduro
(Bloomberg, 6.Aug.2019) — President Donald Trump imposed further sanctions on Venezuela, freezing the government’s assets in the U.S. and adding immigration restrictions in a move aimed at stepping up pressure...
Trump Govt Split Over Chevron’s Venezuela License
(Reuters, Timothy Gardner, 26.Jul.2019) — The Trump administration is split over whether to renew a license this week for energy company Chevron Corp's operations in Venezuela, with Secretary of State...
Chevron To Keep Drilling In Venezuela Despite Sanctions
(Reuters, 26.Jul.2019) — The administration of United States President Donald Trump said on Friday that it has renewed Chevron Corp's licence to drill for oil and gas in Venezuela despite...
Chevron In Crosshairs As Trump Exerts Maximum Pressure On Maduro
(Bloomberg, Kevin Crowley, Lucia Kassai and Kevin Cirilli, 25.Jul.2019) — Pressure is mounting on U.S. President Donald Trump to end Chevron Corp.’s 100-year presence in Venezuela as he seeks to exert...
Chevron Call To Chart Venezuela Sanctions
(Argus, 25.Jul.2019) — A US government decision over Chevron's expiring license to work in Venezuela is the first test of its willingness to ease sanctions that have so far failed...
Qatar Petroleum And Chevron Ink Deal For Mega US Petrochemical Plant
(Qatar Petroleum, 10.Jul.2019) — Qatar Petroleum has signed an agreement with Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC to develop a new world-scale petrochemical project in the Gulf Coast region of the...
Chevron Seeks Relief From Trump’s Venezuela Oil Sanctions
(Bloomberg, Fabiola Zerpa, Peter Millard and Kevin Crowley, 2.Jul.2019) — Chevron Corp. is lobbying the U.S. for sanctions relief so it can continue doing business in oil-rich Venezuela where President...
Venezuela Reshifts Oil Output
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga and Luc Cohen, 28.Jun.2019) — Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA is revamping one of its major processing operations geared to supplying U.S. buyers to produce instead a...
Oil Tops $73/bbl Then Pares Gains As Venezuela’s Maduro Claims Support
(Reuters, Collin Eaton , 30.Apr.2019) — Oil prices rose on Tuesday above $73 a barrel but then eased off the session high after Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro said military leaders...
Finnish Refiner Neste Hit By Venezuela Oil Sanctions
(Reuters, Tarmo Virki, 26.Apr.2019) — Finnish biofuel producer and oil refiner Neste reported a bigger than expected fall in quarterly profit on Friday, with U.S. sanctions against Venezuela having curbed...
On South America’s Largest Solar Farm, Chinese Power Radiates
(Reuters, Cassandra Garrison, 23.Apr.2019) — In an arid, lunar-like landscape in the sunny highlands of northern Argentina, South America’s largest solar farm is rising, powered by funding and technology from...
New U.S. Sanctions Seek To Block Venezuelan Oil Shipments To Cuba
(NYT, Annie Karni and Nicholas Casey, 5.Apr.2019) — The Trump administration announced on Friday its latest round of economic sanctions against the government of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, this...
Citgo Reports Higher Exports, Crude Throughputs
(Argus, 1.Apr.2019) — Citgo increased fuel exports and domestic crude processing last year, the company said in rare public guidance on the Venezuelan-controlled independent refiner’s operations. The refiner reported crude...
Political Shakeup In Oil-Rich Guyana
(RT, 27.Mar.2019) — A political shakeup in oil-rich Guyana, which neighbors OPEC’s Venezuela, in South America. RT America’s Michele Greenstein joins Scottie Nell Hughes to explain how oil discoveries have...
Venezuela’s Oil Production In Jeopardy After New Blackout
(Oilprice.com, Julianne Geiger, 26.Mar.2019) — Venezuela is once again finding itself in the dark in another massive power outage, according to Aljazeera, weighing further on the South American country that...
Venezuela Curbs: India May Raise Oil Imports From Brazil, Mexico
(Economic Times of India, 25.Mar.2019) — New Delhi: India may increase oil imports from Brazil and Mexico to offset the loss of Venezuelan oil in the wake of US sanctions...
Cuba Would Need To Spend $2 Bln /Year For Oil If Venezuela Stops Deliveries
(Miami Herald, Nora Gamez Torres, 22.Mar.2019) — Cuba would have to spend nearly $2 billion a year to meet its domestic oil needs if Venezuela’s National Assembly and interim president...
Reliance Sends Fuel From India, Europe To Venezuela To Sidestep U.S. Sanctions
(Reuters, Nidhi Verma and Marianna Parraga, 21.Mar.2019) — India’s Reliance Industries is selling fuels to Venezuela from India and Europe to sidestep sanctions that bar U.S.-based companies from dealing with...
LatAmNRG Venezuela Briefs: Petro San Félix Fire, U.S. Assaulting PDVSA
(Energy Analytics Institute, Ian Silverman, 14.Mar.2019) — Heard on the street and LatAmNRG briefs on PDVSA reporting a fire at three Petro San Félix storage tanks and Venezuela’s Manuel Quevedo...
Gas Scarcity Could Turn Venezuela’s Crisis To Catastrophe
(AP, Scott Smith and Sheyla Urdaneta, 6.Mar.2019) — Marin Mendez leaned a shoulder into his rusty Chevy Malibu, rolling it forward each time the line of cars inched closer to...
PDVSA Declares Emergency As Tankers Returning -Document
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga, 6.Mar.2019) — Plans by the German operator of a portion of the Venezuelan state oil company’s tanker fleet to return 10 vessels because of unpaid fees prompted...
Russia To Defend Its Venezuela Oil Assets In ‘Toughest Way Possible’
(Oilprice.com, Tsvetana Paraskova, 6.Mar.2019) — Nicolas Maduro’s staunchest international ally—Russia—reaffirmed last week its full support to the Socialist leader’s regime and his efforts to prevent what Moscow sees as interference...
Rival Presidents Face Off As Venezuela’s Economy Crashes
(Petroleum Economist, Charles Waine, 22.Feb.2019) — Despite severe US sanctions, President Maduro is standing firm. But how long can the political impasse last while oil production continues to decline? Venezuela...
How US Sanctions On Venezuela Are Rippling Through Oil Markets
(CNN, Matt Egan, 19.Feb.2019) — US sanctions on Venezuela’s national oil company have accelerated the unprecedented collapse of its oil output and set off a domino effect in the global...
Venezuela Opposition Names Interim Board To Oversee Oil Group
(FT.com, John Paul Rathbone and Gideon Long, 13.Feb.2019) — Venezuela’s parallel, opposition government sought to take control of the country’s oil revenues from the regime of Nicolás Maduro by naming...
US Imposes Sanctions On PDVSA
(IHS Markit Senior Editor Sergey Myakishev, 12.Feb.2019) — The controversy surrounding last year’s re-election of Nicolas Maduro as president of Venezuela came to a head in recent weeks, with continued...
India Sticks To Venezuelan Crude
(Argus, 11.Feb.2019) — India´s two leading refiners will continue to import Venezuelan crude but will no longer supply oil products to Venezuela´s state-owned PdV because of US sanctions, Indian downstream...
Low Venezuelan Oil Output Could Fall Another 50% By 2020
(Chron.com, Jordan Blum, 11.Feb.2019) — Struggling Venezuela already is producing oil at a multi-decade low, but the socialist nation's crude output could fall another 50 percent by 2020, further imperiling...
Oil Markets Unaffected By Chaos In Venezuela, U.S. Crude Oil Sanctions
(Industrial Info, 11.Feb.2019) — Crude oil prices rose by a few dollars per barrel in the days after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry January 28. But those...
Citgo Emerges As Key To Venezuela’s Power Battle
(AP, Alexandra Olson, 9.Feb.2019) — The U.S. and dozens of other countries may have declared that Nicolas Maduro is no longer the legitimate president of Venezuela, but that has not...
Venezuelan Sanctions Could Squeeze European Fuel Oil Market
(S&P Global Platts, 8.Feb.2019) — US sanctions imposed on Venezuela’s state-owned PDVSA could further support an already tight high sulfur fuel oil market in Europe, sources said. The European fuel...