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...
Venezuela Orders Arrest Of New Citgo Board Member
(Reuters, 18.Jan.2021) — Venezuelan authorities issued an arrest warrant for a new member of the board of directors of U.S.-based refining firm Citgo Petroleum Corp named by the opposition this...
Judge Approves Citgo Parent Share Sale
(Argus, 14.Jan.2021) — Venezuela inched closer to losing control of its US refining subsidiary Citgo today after a federal judge began crafting a sale process for shares of its controlling...
EU’s Declaration On Backing Venezuela’s Juan Guaido
(EU Council, 6.Jan.2021) — The Venezuelan elections of 6 December 2020 for the National Assembly regrettably went ahead without a national agreement on electoral conditions. The European Union considers that...
EU, Lima Group Sour On Juan Guaido
(Argus, 6.Jan.2021) — The EU and the Lima Group of Latin American countries and Canada have implicitly dropped support for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president, portending...
Venezuela’s New National Assembly Steps In
(Energy Analytics Institute, 5.Jan.2021) — Venezuela’s new National Assembly, elected in parliamentary elections on 6 December 2020, assumed power today in Caracas. Jorge Rodriguez will take over as the leader...
Carlos Vecchio Says Guaidó Govt Saved Citgo
(Energy Analytics Institute, 29.Dec.2020) — Houston-based refiner Citgo Petroleum, owned by Venezuela's state oil and gas company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), continues to benefit from US legal actions to extend...
Biden Presidency To Reset US Sanctions Focus
(Argus, 14.Dec.2020) — Washington's failure in the past two years to force regime change in Caracas by means of severe sanctions gives the incoming US administration of president-elect Joe Biden...
Venezuelan Opposition Fills PdV Chair On Election Eve
(Argus, 7.Dec.2020) — Venezuela's opposition-controlled National Assembly named another oil industry veteran to chair a shadow board of Venezuela's national oil company PdV. The key appointment comes on the eve...
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...
Venezuelans Vote In Legislative Election
(Al Jazeera, 6.Dec.2020) — Venezuelans voted on Sunday in legislative elections set to tighten President Nicolas Maduro’s grip on power and weaken his US-backed rival, Juan Guaido, who is leading...
Venezuela’s Parliamentary Election: Change Expected
(Energy Analytics Institute, 6.Dec.2020) — Venezuela’s National Assembly leader and Interim President Juan Guaido could be coming to the end of his short two-year reign this 6 December 2020 as...
Dems Statement Ahead Of Elections In Venezuela
(US Senate, 4.Dec.2020) — US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) issued the following statement denouncing the Maduro regime’s sham...
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...
Citgo-backed Bonds Boosted By US Court Ruling
(Reuters, 19.Oct.2020) — Bond market brokers marked up prices on some of Venezuela's battered debt more than four-fold on Monday after a U.S. judge dealt a major blow to opposition...
Attack On Venezuela Refineries A Playbook US Regime Change Scenario
(Sputnik, 14.Sep.2020) — In the last two years, Venezuela has thwarted a coup attempt organised by opposition leader Juan Guaido, one attempt to kidnap President Nicolas Maduro, and energy outages...
PdV Ad Hoc Chairman Joins Opposition Flight
(Argus, 9.Sep.2020) — The chairman of the Venezuelan opposition's "ad hoc" board of national oil company PdV has joined a flight of exiled technocrats from the ranks of a struggling...
Venezuelan Opposition Politician Backs Elections
(Wall Street Journal, 2.Sep.2020) — A prominent Venezuelan opposition figure on Wednesday said he is supporting congressional elections in December that Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader backed by the U.S.,...
Venezuela Faces Possibility Oil Output Drops To Zero
(Oilprice.com, 1.Sep.2020) — Venezuela once considered one of Latin America’s prosperous countries has plunged into the abyss. Years of economic mismanagement, cronyism and corruption have sparked a monumental economic collapse...
Maduro Pardons Political Prisoners Ahead Of Vote
(Bloomberg, 31.Aug.2020) — Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro issued a surprise decree pardoning more than 100 of his opponents as a concession ahead of upcoming congressional elections. Former National Assembly Vice...
Russia Is Winning The Battle For Venezuela’s Oil
(Oilprice.com, 24.Aug.2020) — In just over a year Venezuela, and the push to oust socialist leader President Nicolas Maduro, has gone from being one of the world’s hottest news headlines...
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...
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...
Joint Support Declaration For Change In Venezuela
(US State Department, 14.Aug.2020) — The text of the following declaration was released by several members of the Lima Group, the International Contact Group, the European Union, the United States,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Opposition Asks Court To Recognize Citgo Changes
(Argus, 18.Jun.2020) — Venezuelan ownership of the country's most valuable overseas asset may rest on opposition leadership convincing a US court that it restored refiner Citgo's independence and remains a...
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,...
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...
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...
PdV’s Board Of Exiles Loses Two Technocrats
(Argus, 21.May.2020) — Two members of the parallel board of Venezuela's national oil company PdV have resigned, a development that exposes brewing frustration in the exiled technical ranks of US-backed...
Venezuela Spurned By US Court In Citgo Clash
(Bloomberg, 18.May.2020) — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Venezuela in its fight to retain control of oil refiner Citgo Holding Inc., putting the country a step closer...
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...
Pipeline Blast Halts PetroPiar
(Argus, 10.Mar.2020) — Venezuelan state-owned PdV's PetroPiar joint venture with Chevron suspended upgrading operations following a pipeline explosion early today, three oil workers at the facility tell Argus. The plant...
Venezuela Cause Drifting Off International Agenda
(Argus, 10.Mar.2020) — Venezuela's US-backed opposition is scrambling to stay relevant at home and abroad as the US and other foreign patrons turn inward to focus on slowing the spread...
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...
Ask No Questions, Tell No Lies
(Argus, 11.Feb.2020) — Juan Guaido is finally returning to Caracas today, with a vow to dislodge the “usurper” so he and his team of exiles can Make Venezuela Great Again....
Russia Sends Lavrov To Venezuela
(Reuters, 4.Feb.2020) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Venezuela on Friday in a show of support for President Nicolas Maduro, a socialist who Washington wants out of power....
Guaido Rubbing Elbows In Surprise Foreign Trip
(Argus, 20.Jan.2020) — The US government is hoping a high-profile international tour by Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido will re-inject momentum into its protracted campaign to unseat President Nicolas Maduro....
Oil Is The Only Way Back Up For Venezuela
(Oilprice.com, 19.Jan.2020) — There’s only one path to rebuilding Venezuela, and it’s paved with oil. For the time being, that path leads nowhere. The key to controlling everything now lies...
Chevron Gets 4th Reprieve From Venezuela Sanctions
(Argus, 17.Jan.2020) — Washington will allow Chevron and four US oil field service providers to continue operating in Venezuela until 22 April by granting a fourth waiver late yesterday from...
Maduro Seeks Oil Contract Changes: Lawmakers
(Reuters, 8.Jan.2020) — Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party hopes legislators it recently declared to be in charge of congress will approve changes to ownership of some crucial state oil assets, five...
Guaido Survival Likely To Buy Chevron More Time
(Argus, 7.Jan.2020) — The White House appears likely to extend a waiver for Chevron to operate in Venezuela after US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido overcame a government-backed rival to retain...
US Considering More Venezuela Sanctions
(S&P Global Platts, 6.Jan.2020) — The US may respond to escalating political disarray in Venezuela by allowing a sanctions waiver for Chevron and four US oil services companies to expire...
US Says Maduro Rigging Coming Vote
(NYT, 20.Dec.2019) — At stake is control of the country’s National Assembly, which is controlled by the opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who has accused President Nicolás Maduro of corruption. The...
Venezuela Gov’t, Opposition Weigh Giving Firms Operating Rights
(Reuters, Luc Cohen, Deisy Buitrago, Mayela Armas, 6.Dec.2019) — Venezuela’s government and opposition have discussed allowing private companies in joint ventures with state oil company PDVSA to operate oil fields...
LatAm, US Ban Travel For Venezuela’s Maduro, Allies
(Reuters, Luis Jaime Acosta, 3.Dec.2019) — Fifteen countries in the Americas agreed on Tuesday to ban 29 Venezuelans, including the oil-producing country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and his close allies, from...
US Acts Against Movement Of Venezuelan Oil To Cuba
(US Department of State, 3.Dec.2019) — On December 3, the United States identified six PDVSA-owned vessels, pursuant to E.O. 13884 or 13850, being used by the former Maduro regime to...
Maduro Sent $900mn In Oil To Cuba, U.S. Official Said
(El Nuevo Herald, Nora Gámez Torres, 27.Nov.2019) — Embattled leader Nicolás Maduro sent about $900 million in oil to Cuba this year despite the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, a U.S....
Guaido Sacks Colombia Envoy, Oil Boss Freites Quits
(Argus, 27.Nov.2019) — Another prominent figure in Venezuela's US-backed parallel administration has abruptly departed and an oil union leader has quit the main opposition political party in the latest signs...
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...
Third Circuit Rejects Citgo Rehearing
(Argus, Elliott Blackburn, 21.Nov.2019) — Federal appeals court judges have denied Venezuela's request to rehear a July decision upholding the pursuit of the country's US refining subsidiary Citgo to satisfy...
US Court Denies Citgo Rehearing
(S&P Global Platts, 21.Nov.2019) — A US appeals court Thursday denied Venezuela's request for it to reconsider its ruling allowing a PDVSA creditor to go after US refiner Citgo, its...
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...
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,...
Chevron To Receive Venezuelan Oil Cargo
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga, 18.Oct.2019) — U.S. oil major Chevron Corp is scheduled this month to receive at least one cargo of crude oil from sanctioned Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA,...
Maduro Rivals Seek Break With Citgo
(Argus, 17.Oct.2019) — Venezuela's main political opposition is pressing for a deal with foreign bondholders to suspend a looming $914mn obligation that is tethered to coveted US refining assets. The...
Guaido Camp Declares PDVSA 2020 Bond Void
(venezuelanalysis.com, 16.Oct.2019) — Venezuela’s CITGO could be seized by creditors. Venezuela’s opposition-held National Assembly (AN) passed a resolution Tuesday branding the country’s 2020 PDVSA bond “invalid.” The move comes on...
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...
Venezuela’s Opposition Snubs PDVSA Bondholders
(Argus, 15.Oct.2019) — Venezuela's opposition-controlled National Assembly signaled to bondholders today that it will not honor a $914mn principal and interest obligation because it says the debt issuance is unconstitutional....
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...
Venezuela Oil Sector May Take 8 Years To Recover
(Yahoo Finance, Akiko Fujita, Anchor/Reporter, 27.Sep.2019) — A top aide to Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Friday it could take up to eight years to restore oil production...
Guaido IDB Envoy Hausmann Resigns Post
(Argus, 26.Sep.2019) — Venezuela's parallel administration headed by opposition leader Juan Guaido has lost its most prominent figure, former planning minister and Harvard professor Ricardo Hausmann. Hausmann, who recently hinted...
Maduro Plots Assembly Grab, Oil-For-Food Floated
(Argus, 24.Sep.2019) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's constitutional claim to the Opec country's interim presidency could be undermined by today's tumultuous return of the governing United Socialist Party (PSUV)...
Maduro Targets Guaido Over Guyana
(Argus, 6.Sep.2019) — Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro ordered state prosecutors to lodge treason charges against opposition leader Juan Guaido for allegedly agreeing to relinquish Venezuela's century-old territorial claim to the...
Citgo Petroleum Announces 2Q:19 Results
(Citgo, 26.Aug.2019) — The Board of Directors of Citgo Petroleum Corporation is pleased to report significant progress on top company goals. Following its appointment in February 2019, the Citgo Board...
Citgo Profits Hit By Fallout From Split-CEO
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga, 22.Aug.2019) — The two new top executives at Citgo Petroleum disclosed this week that net income in the second quarter slid to less than half its level...
New Caracas Blackout Compounds Energy Woes
(AP, 20.Aug.2019) — Parts of Venezuela's capital and at least one state endured a power blackout on Tuesday lasting several hours, in an occurrence that has become commonplace in the...
Venezuela’s Congress To Consider Scaled-back Reform
(Reuters, By Luc Cohen, 15.Aug.2019) — Venezuela's opposition-controlled congress is considering reforms to the country's oil law that would open up the sector to private investment but are scaled back...
Guaido Names Execs To Debt Renegotiating Commission
(Energy Analytics Institute, Jared Yamin, 13.Aug.2019) — Venezuela’s National Assembly leader Juan Guaido announced creation of a special commission dedicated to renegotiating the OPEC country’s public debt, the assembly reported...
Citgo To Name New CEO
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga, 13.Aug.2019) — Citgo Petroleum Corp has selected Carlos Jorda as its next chief executive, according to three people familiar with the matter, turning to a seasoned refinery...
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...