(OTC, 9.May.2024) — The 55th annual Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) concluded today at NRG Park, uniting the world’s elite energy experts and professionals, to discuss the future of offshore energy. OTC 2024 showcased breakthrough innovations in the industry, and a multi-disciplinary technical program exploring the technologies needed to address the […]
Tag: Houston
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 […]
Citgo Foundation To Support Covid-19 Efforts In Venezuela
(Citgo, 26.Mar.2020) — The SimĂłn BolĂvar Foundation Inc. (SBF), the non-profit, private foundation of Citgo Petroleum Corporation, is launching a special round of its small grants program to help alleviate the damaging effects of the Covid-19 crisis in Venezuela. Non-profit organizations working in Venezuela are critical right now, given the […]
Maduro Accused Of “Disappearing” US Oilmen
(AP, 19.Feb.2020) — Family members of six American oil executives jailed in Venezuela are accusing Nicolas Maduro’s government of “forced disappearance” after the men were inexplicably missing for the scheduled start of their trial on Wednesday. Veronica Vadell said that lawyers for her father, Tomeu Vadell, and the five other […]
CITGO: Worth Protecting?
(AFPM, Chet Thompson, 22.Oct.2019) — In the last ten years the fracking revolution has led to amazing growth and vastly increased energy security for the United States. We’ve gone from the number-one refined product importer in the world to the number-one exporter. Workers in American refineries are fueling the country […]
Texas’ Pete Olson Calls For Maduro To Release Citgo 6
(The Katy News, 8.Apr.2019) — Rep. Pete Olson (TX-22) issued the following statement calling on the Maduro regime to release the six Citgo executives, five of whom are Texans, who have been detained in Venezuela since November 2017: “The CITGO 6 are Texas and Louisiana residents who have been detained […]
Fact Sheet: Citgo Petroleum’s Three US Refineries
(Energy Analytics Institute, Jared Yamin, 17.Feb.2019) — Houston-based Citgo Petroleum has three refineries located in the U.S. in Corpus Christi, Texas; Lake Charles, Louisiana; and Lemont, Illinois. What follows is a summary of each, according to official Citgo data. CORPUS CHRISTI Since our modest beginning in the mid-1930s, when our […]
U.S.-Argentine Cos. Identify $270 Mln In New Vaca Muerta Developments
(Energy Analytics Institute, Aaron Simonsky, 20.Nov. 2018) — A road show by an Argentina delegation to New Orleans and Houston last week brought together 35 Argentine companies and another 50 U.S. companies interested in forging ties and business ventures in the Vaca Muerta shale formation. “It was a very successful […]
McDermott Hosts Celebratory Event For Abkatun-A2 Sail Away
(McDermott, 15.Nov.2018) — McDermott International, Inc. announced the details at an event hosted at their world-class fabrication yard in Altamira, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The event celebrates the sail away and another project milestone of the PEMEX ExploraciĂłn y ProducciĂłn PB-Abkatun-A2 oil and gas production platform. Representatives from PEMEX, government officials, including […]
Texas Man Pleads Guilty In Ongoing Venezuela Bribery Probe
(The Wall Street Journal, Samuel Rubenfeld, 30.Oct.2018) — U.S. prosecutors said they secured another guilty plea in their ongoing corruption probe of Venezuela’s state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA. Ivan Alexis Guedez, a former PdVSA procurement officer from Katy, Texas, pleaded guilty to a money-laundering conspiracy charge. […]
Venezuela To Make $949mn Bond Payment To Keep Citgo Assets
(OilPrice.com. Tsvetana Paraskova, 26.Oct.2018) — Although Venezuela is regularly delaying or avoiding bond payments and is behind on billions of U.S. dollars in such payments, it is preparing to make a rare US$949-million payment on one bond, because that bond is backed by a stake in its key U.S. asset, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Citgo, Valero Drive Up U.S. Purchases of Venezuelan Oil in September
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga, 4.Oct.2018) — Venezuela’s September crude sales to the United States rose to their highest in over a year, boosted by purchases by Citgo Petroleum, the U.S. refining arm of Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA, and Valero Energy, according to Refinitiv Eikon trade flows data. A collision in August at […]
PetroTal Corp. Announces Intention for Secondary Quote of Common Shares
(PetroTal Corp., 26.Sep.2018) — PetroTal Corp. announced its intention to seek a secondary quotation of its common shares with their admission to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market, subject to preparation of the requisite documentation. The company expects that the shares will begin trading by the end of […]
U.S. Company Manager Pleads Guilty in PDVSA Bribery Scheme
(Reuters, 13.Sep.2018) — A former manager of a U.S.-based logistics company pleaded guilty on Thursday to paying bribes to secure contracts from Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, and the guilty plea of the official who was bribed was also unsealed, the U.S. Justice Department said. Juan Carlos Castillo Rincon, 55, […]
CITGO Awards Grant, Continues Restoration Work
(Citgo, 29.Aug.2018) — Through the CITGO Caring for Our Coast initiative, a program designed to boost ecological conservation, restoration and education, The Conservation Foundation (TCF) has been awarded a grant to continue its restoration work in the Heritage Quarries Recreation Area (HQRA) in Lemont. In partnership with TCF and the […]
PDVSA, Citgo Evaluating Aruba Gas Plan
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 25.Aug.2018) — Venezuela is evaluating a plan to implement a natural gas project with Aruba. Officials from Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, and its refining arm Citgo Petroleum Corporation continue to evaluate the potential of such a project that would imply a gas interconnection between […]
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 […]
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 […]
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: […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
U.S. Revokes Visa of Citgo CEO
(Bloomberg, Lucia Kassai and Fabiola Zerpa, 18.Jul.2018) – Being a blood relative of Hugo Chavez used to open doors. Now Asdrubal Chavez, cousin of the late Venezuelan socialist leader, is finding out it can close some as well. In the most recent blow against Venezuela, the U.S. revoked the visa […]
Ex-Venezuelan Energy Official Pleads Guilty
(AP, 16.Jul.2018) – A former official at a state-run electric company in Caracas, Venezuela, pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy relating to an alleged multibillion-dollar graft scheme in the Venezuelan oil industry. Luis Carlos de Leon-Perez, a 42-year-old dual citizen of the United States and Venezuela, admitted his role in […]
Citgo Appoints Aruba Refinery Executives
(Reuters, 28.Jun.2018) – Citgo Petroleum, the U.S. refining arm of Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA, said it appointed two senior executives to new positions as it works to refurbish an idled Aruba refinery. Luis Marquez was named vice president and general manager at the refinery, a 235,000-barrel-per-day plant in San […]
EIA Publishes Updated Venezuela Country Report
(EIA, 21.Jun.2018) – Venezuela holds the largest oil reserves in the world, in large part because of the heavy oil reserves in the Orinoco Oil Basin. In addition to oil reserves, Venezuela has sizeable natural gas reserves, although the development of natural gas lags significantly behind that of oil, reported […]
Venezuela’s Energy Sectors Remain Attractive, Unattractive
(Energy Analytics Institute, 28.May.2018) — Venezuela’s upstream, downstream and midstream sectors remain attractive, yet unattractive to investors. Why the contradiction? The three sectors remain highly attractive due to the fact that Venezuela — the country with the world’s largest crude oil reserve base and the eighth largest natural gas reserve […]
PDVSA Participates in OTC 2017 in Houston
(Energy Analytics Institute, Aaron Simonsky, 13.May.2017) – PDVSA participated in the Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas from 1-4.May.2017. PDVSA Gas Vice President César Triana headed a sizable contingent, and presented the company’s Business Plan 2016-2026 to conference participants. ***