No Change Afoot At Venezuela’s Oil Ministry: Sources
(Argus, 10.Dec.2021) — Venezuela's oil minister Tareck El Aissami returned to work this week after a prolonged medical leave and will not be replaced, a senior source close to the...
Venezuela Adapts To US sanctions With Rising Oil Flow
(Argus, 3.Nov.2021) — Venezuela is cranking up oil production in a reflection of the Opec country's moderate success in adapting to operational constraints imposed by prolonged US sanctions. Output has surpassed...
Citgo Boards In Last-ditch Talks With Washington
(Reuters, 22.Oct.2021) — The supervisory boards of Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum, racing to stave off a breakup of the eighth largest U.S. oil refiner, have held talks with U.S. officials in...
Venezuela Close To Losing More Overseas Assets
(Argus, 30.Sep.2021) — A Dutch court has dealt the latest blow to Venezuela's shrinking overseas portfolio that neither the Venezuelan government nor its political foes has succeeded in defending from...
ConocoPhillips Steps Up Push To Collect PdV Debt
(Argus, 23.Sep.2021) — ConocoPhillips stands out in Venezuela's vast universe of jilted creditors and claimants as a potential future commercial partner for state-owned PdV, a distinction that is driving aggressive...
Sucre Energy Bets On Venezuelan Gas
(Argus, 8.Sep.2021) — Venezuela's abundant hydrocarbons are beckoning a new generation of investors, stepping in where more established companies are pulling out. Sucre Energy, a Netherlands-based and Spanish-registered private equity...
Citgo Envisions Oil ‘Bridge’ To Venezuela
(Argus, 23.Aug.2021) — US refiner Citgo has been effectively cut off from its Venezuelan state-owned parent PdV since 2019, but it is still constrained by heavy debt while multiple creditors...
New Chinese Tax Narrows Venezuela’s Oil Export Options
(Argus, 17.May.2021) — A Chinese tax overhaul threatens to orphan up to 400,000 b/d of Venezuelan heavy sour crude that has been a lifeline for Caracas since the US imposed...
PdV Refinery Suspends Petrol Production
(Argus, 12.Mar.2021) — Venezuelan state-owned PdV suspended gasoline production at its 305,000 b/d Cardon refinery this week as a result of more equipment breakdowns. Cardon was producing about 45,000 b/d...
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...
PdV Turns Refinery Repair Effort To Puerto La Cruz
(Argus, 10.Dec.2020) — PdV has restarted a crude distillation unit at its 190,000 b/d Puerto La Cruz refinery for the first time since 2017, but as with the Venezuelan state-owned...
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 Crude Production, Exports Recover
(Argus, 1.Dec.2020) — Venezuelan state-owned PdV's crude production and exports have recovered in recent weeks as China resumed direct loadings and a tanker deficit the company blames on US sanctions...
Bonaire Eyes Curacao Model To Sell Venezuelan Oil
(Argus, 28.Aug.2020) — Another Dutch Caribbean island is racing to safeguard and possibly sell Venezuelan fuel oil before a US sanctions window closes in December. Bonaire hosts Venezuelan state-owned PdV's...
Cash-short Cuba Orders More Power Cuts
(Argus, 26.Aug.2020) — Cuba is deepening power cuts as US sanctions on its main fuel supplier Venezuela make it harder for the island to keep its lights on. Venezuela's state-owned...
Faulty Heat Exchangers Spill Venezuelan Oil
(Argus, 26.Aug.2020) — An estimated 25,000 bl of oil spilled along western Venezuela's coastline in recent weeks came from faulty heat exchangers at state-owned PdV's El Palito refinery, three officials...
How Venezuela’s Oil Industry Collapsed: FT.com
(FT.com, 23.Aug.2020) — The country's oil industry was once the envy of the region, but after decades of mismanagement and corruption the sector is facing ruin. The FT's Andean correspondent...
Curacao Fuel Sale Touches Venezuela Sanctions Nerve
(Argus, 18.Aug.2020) — A fuel oil cargo stuck off of the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao is about to be released to an unnamed buyer in a closely monitored transaction...
Aruba Receives Refinery, Development Proposals
(Argus, 31.Jul.2020) — The government of Aruba received proposals to refurbish its refinery and develop alternative industries on the brownfield site. RdA, the state-owned asset holder, received 29 proposals out...
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...
Venezuela Tightens Grip On Fuel Stations
(Reuters, 28.Jun.2020) — Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA has told independent gas station operators it can revoke their licences “at any time”, only weeks after it cut generous fuel subsidies...
Wave Of Venezuelan Oil Stalled At Sea
(Argus, 10.Jun.2020) — Vessel tracking data shows a fleet of 44 international tankers on the water holding 40.5mn bl of Venezuelan oil as shipowners face growing risk of US sanctions...
Restart Of Virgin Islands Refinery Delayed Again
(Argus, 10.Jun.2020) — The restart of an oil refinery in the US Virgin Islands is poised for another delay because of pandemic restrictions. The refinery was supposed to reopen in...
Venezuela Rolls Out Two-tiered Fuel Pricing
(Argus, 1.Jun.2020) — A two-tiered gasoline pricing system rolled out by Venezuela today maintains generous subsidies for limited volumes but allows private-sector operators to charge international prices for imports. The...
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 Keeps Nynas Board Seat After Restructuring
(Argus, 13.May.2020) — Venezuela's state-owned PdV has retained one seat on the new corporate board of European specialty refiner Nynas after a restructuring that freed the venture from US sanctions....
FBI Probes Firms Over Venezuela Oil Trading
(Reuters, 13.May.2020) — The FBI is probing several Mexican and European companies allegedly involved in trading Venezuelan oil as it gathers information for a U.S. Treasury Department inquiry into possible...
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...
Is PDVSA Abandoning Its Socialist Agenda?
(Oilprice.com, 29.Apr.2020) — Venezuela seems to be changing tactics when it comes to managing its oil resources. PDVSA is considering a major industry reform that would increase private company activities...
Fire Reduces Venezuelan Heavy Crude Flow
(Reuters, 28.Apr.2020) — The latest fire to erupt at one of Venezuelan state-owned PdV's oil installations has temporarily knocked out up to 130,000 b/d of heavy crude production from three...
Venezuela Floats Lean PdV With Russia Unit
(Argus, 27.Apr.2020) — The two Maduro loyalists who have been effectively running Venezuela's national oil industry for two months were officially appointed today as acting heads of the oil ministry...
US Reviews Need For Venezuela Waivers: Update
(Argus, 16.Apr.2020) — The US is rethinking the premise behind its earlier decision to allow Chevron and other US and international firms to continue their presence in Venezuela, as it...
Venezuela Brushing Aside Oil Price Signals For Now
(Argus, 2.Apr.2020) — Venezuela's crude production partially recovered to around 700,000 b/d at the end of March, but state-owned PdV and its foreign partners cannot afford to dismiss weaker price...
Economic Fallout From Virus Felt In Venezuela
(ABC News, 16.Mar.2020) — Nicolás Maduro’s government on Monday banned gasoline sales in two states as part of a broader lock-down to stem panic buying by Venezuelans accustomed to hoarding...
PDVSA Partners Fret Over Managerial Vacuum
(Argus, 12.Mar.2020) — A presidential commission tasked with reorganizing Venezuela's state-owned PdV is sowing confusion among the oil company's joint venture partners over who is running the firm after chief...
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...
PdV Names New Shipping Head As Arrests Mount
(Argus, 9.Mar.2020) — Venezuelan state-owned PdV named a new head of its shipping unit following 38 arrests over alleged fuel theft. PdV Marina's new president is Cesar Vladimir Romero Salazar,...
Venezuela Promises Another Oil Revival
(Argus, 20.Feb.2020) — Venezuela's embattled government is vowing to overhaul the national oil industry one day after the US administration sanctioned the Russian trading company that channels most Venezuelan crude...
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....
Storage Constraints Prompt PdV To Consider Oil Pits
(Argus, 28.Feb.2020) — Venezuela's PdV has exhausted its storage capacity and is now considering digging open-air pits to hold swelling stocks that US sanctions are keeping off the export market,...
Venezuela Oil Exports Accelerate
(Argus, 16.Jan.2020) — Venezuela kicked off the new year with at least 730,000 b/d of crude exports, led by several India-bound cargoes, according to local and international shipping data obtained...
Citgo Drops Aruba Refinery Project, Island Balks
(Argus, 13.Jan.2020 — Citgo, the US refiner that Venezuela's political opposition nominally wrested from the Opec country's national oil company PdV in 2019, is abandoning a refinery project in Aruba,...
Maduro Govt Eyes Turning Point
(Argus, 20.Dec.2019) — PdV is leaning on joint-venture partners as it looks to continue a nascent crude output revival and live up to an improved economic outlook for 2020 The...
PdV Gets Curacao Reprieve
(Argus, Patricia Garip, 2.Dec.2019) — Venezuela's state-owned PdV struck a preliminary agreement with Curacao to hang on to the Isla refinery and Bullen Bay terminal for a transition period of...
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 Cool On Venezuela’s Sweeter Gas Terms, For Now
(Argus, 6.Nov.2019) — Venezuela is offering sweeter fiscal terms to Russia's state-controlled Rosneft for two offshore natural gas fields that are well-positioned to supply nearby Trinidad and Tobago, but the...
Repsol Lowers Venezuela Exposure
(Argus, 4.Nov.2019) — Spanish integrated firm Repsol further reduced its exposure to its upstream business in Venezuela in the third quarter thanks to a small provision and a rise in...
Brazil Targets Greek Tanker For Spill
(Argus, 1.Nov.2019) — Brazil is targeting a Greek-flagged tanker as the source of a catastrophic oil spill that has spread across the northeastern coast. Federal police say the Suezmax Bouboulina...
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...
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....
PdV-CNPC JV Managers Arrested
(Argus, 7.Oct.2019) — Senior managers of Venezuelan state-owned PdV's heavy crude-blending joint venture with Chinese state-owned CNPC were arrested late last week, days after the blending plant halted operations. PetroSinovensa...
PdV Floods Cuba With Stranded Oil
(Argus, 3.Oct.2019) — At least three Venezuelan fuel tankers are heading towards Cuba today, part of a flotilla meant to free up domestic storage space while defying a US campaign...
Cuba Won’t negotiate On Venezuela, But Russia Might
(Miami Herald, Nora Gámez Torres and Michael Wilner, 24.Sep.2019) — Moscow has maintained communication with members of the Venezuelan opposition even as the Cuban government plans on “going down with...
China Stays Venezuela Course
(Argus, 20.Aug.2019) — The Chinese government is so far showing no sign of curtailing its oil ties to Venezuela, despite state-owned PetroChina's rescheduling of Merey crude loadings in August. Argus...
Fuel Crisis Denting PdV Upstream Operations
(Argus, 18.Jun.2019) — Venezuela's severe motor fuel deficit is starting to weigh on the Opec country's crude production, as oil workers struggle to reach their jobs, and oil equipment and...
Haitians Decry Squandered Venezuelan Oil Funds
(Argus, 11.Jun.2019) — Deadly street protests have erupted in Haiti following the publication of a court report alleging that recent governments mishandled about $2bn in oil-related credit from Venezuela. Seven...
Fire Near PdV’s PLC Refinery Kills Three
(Argus, 9.Jun.2019) — A fire yesterday near state-owned PdV's 190,000 b/d Puerto La Cruz refinery killed at least three people. Civil emergency and Anzoategui state firefighting officials blamed the fire...
Venezuela’s Opposition Hires Debt Adviser
(Argus, 20.May.2019) — Venezuela's political opposition contracted with an international adviser to prepare for restructuring the country's external debt that is expected to exceed $150bn. Lee Buchheit, a specialist in...
Venezuelan Oil Output Sinks To 500,000 B/D
(Argus, 14.May.2019) — Venezuela's crude production has dropped to around 500,000 b/d as sluggish export loadings and replete storage force state-owned PdV to shut in wells, four company officials tell...
Lights Dimming On Big Oil In Venezuela
(Argus, Patricia Garip, 10.Apr.2019) — Darkness has befallen Venezuela in more than one sense, and incumbent oil companies are scrambling for a ray of light. It was hard enough for...
Turkish Ship Company Is Transporting Venezuelan Crude
(Argus, 4.Apr.2019) — Turkey-based Gungen is one of a handful of shipowners that continues to transport Venezuelan crude oil after the US levied sanctions on the South American country's state-owned...
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...
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...
Venezuela’s Petropiar Upgrader Begins Restart
(Reuters, 26.Jun.2018) – Venezuela’s PDVSA and Chevron have begun to restart their 210,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Petropiar heavy crude upgrader after a nearly month-long, repair-related shutdown and a fire, according to the...
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...
Lake Maracaibo: Descent into Chaos [EAItv]
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 15.Jun.2018) – A brief look at Lake Maracaibo’s descent into chaos. The Maracaibo basin has produced over 43 billion barrels of petroleum, and close to...
Venezuelan Decree Aims to Boost PDVSA Oil Capacity
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 5.Jun.2018) – Decree No. 3368, dated April 12, 2018, and published in Gazette No. 41376, establishes a special transitional regime aimed at boosting Venezuela’s oil...
Venezuela’s Grim Realities
(Anthony Venezia, Energy Intelligence, 30.May.2018) -- The political and economic crisis afflicting Venezuela typically makes international headlines in connection with the possibility of sanctions being imposed on Caracas by the...
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...