(Reuters, 6.Mar.2020) — The U.S. government is preparing to impose new measures as soon as next week to stifle Venezuela’s oil exports, including a move not to renew Chevron Corp’s license to do business with state-run company PDVSA, sources familiar with the matter said. The United States imposed harsh sanctions […]
Tag: PDVSA
Venezuela Arrests Officials For Giving US Oil Data
(AFP, 2.Mar.2020) — Venezuela said Monday it had arrested two officials from state oil company PDVSA for providing the US with “strategic and sensitive” details of its sanctions-hit oil operations. Alfredo Chirinos, the company’s special operations chief, and Aryenis Torrealba, PDVSA’s general manager of crude operations, were arrested on Friday, […]
Venezuela’s Oil Exports Rose Ahead Of Wind-down Date
(Reuters, 2.Mar.2020) — Venezuela’s oil exports rose 9% in February from the previous month, as some buyers rushed to take cargoes ahead of the expiration of a wind-down period as part of new U.S. sanctions on PDVSA and its trade partners, data from the state-run firm and Refinitiv Eikon showed. […]
Venezuela’s Maduro Announces PDVSA Shake Up
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 29.Feb.2020) — Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro revealed key executive changes within state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) in an announcement published in the country’s Official Gaceta dated 28 February 2020. The new appointments approved by the president include: — Erwin Enrique Hernández Hernández, named […]
Petroboscán Advancing With Materials Warehouse
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 29.Feb.2020) — The Petroboscán joint venture, which partners Venezuelan Petroleum Corporation (CVP) and Chevron Corp., is advancing with a management and optimization project related to a materials warehouse in the Boscán field, located in the municipality of La Cañada de Urdaneta in Zulia state. Activities […]
Opinion: Can Venezuela’s Oil Sector Ever Recover?
(IAD, 28.Feb.2020) — At the dawn of the 1920s, Venezuela had drilled its first oil wells and was just two years away from the eruption of almost a million barrels of oil from the Barroso No. 2 well on the shores of Lake Maracaibo — an event that would amplify […]
Citgo Says Gerd Knutsen Released From Seizure
(Citgo, 28.Feb.2020) — Citgo Petroleum Corporation confirms that the Gerd Knutsen and its crew have safely reached international waters, and that the Company intends to pursue the Maduro regime, and any entities that may have assisted it, for unlawful seizure of its cargo. BACKGROUND ON CITGO GERD KNUTSEN SEIZURE Citgo […]
Venezuela Committee Asks VPs To Offer Resignations
(Reuters, 22.Feb.2020) — Members of a committee tasked with overhauling Venezuelan state oil firm PetrĂłleos de Venezuela, S.A., or PDVSA, asked the company’s vice presidents on Friday to offer their resignations, three sources said. The committee could accept the resignations or maintain those officials in their posts, according to one […]
BoquerĂłn JV Advances With Gas Lift Pilot
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 22.Feb.2020) — The BoquerĂłn joint venture, comprised of state oil company PetrĂłleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA) and Russian oil company Rosneft, is incorporating artificial gas lift technological with aim at increasing its production of light crude oil which is currently produced by natural flow. Use […]
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 naval blockade, a senior administration official said. The U.S. has put several companies that continue to do business in Venezuela […]
PetroMonagas Incorporates Turbo Generator
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 20.Feb.2020) — In order to generate its own electricity, the PetroMonagas joint venture incorporated use of an electric turbo generator (TG2) at its upgrader at the JosĂ© Antonio Anzoátegui Industrial Complex located in the northern part of Anzoátegui state. With incorporation of the generator, the […]
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 to market. In his latest national address late yesterday, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro issued an energy emergency decree and created […]
Maduro Taps VP To ‘Restructure’ Oil Sector
(Reuters, 19.Feb.2020) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday he would create a presidential commission to restructure the country’s beleaguered oil industry, which will be led by Vice President for the Economy Tareck El Aissami. The announcement came a day after the United States sanctioned Rosneft Trading, a unit […]
Maduro Shakes Up PDVSA Amid Oil Sector Emergency
(Bloomberg, 19.Feb.2020) — Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro declared an “energy emergency” as he announced a commission to revamp state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, redoubling efforts to shore up the nation’s crumbling oil industry. Economy Vice President Tareck El Aissami will lead the commission, which will focus on boosting […]
Rosneft Sanctions Raise Threats For Cos In Venezuela
(Reuters, 19.Feb.2020) — Washington’s move this week to sanction a trading unit of Russian oil giant Rosneft for its ties with Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA escalated threats facing non-U.S. firms and will likely spur “overcompliance” by companies, analysts and industry sources said. The U.S. government on Tuesday blacklisted Rosneft Trading, SA, […]
Latest Rosneft Sanctions Raise Risks For Others
(Reuters, 19.Feb.2020) — Washington’s move this week to sanction a trading unit of Russian oil giant Rosneft for its ties with Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA escalated threats facing non-U.S. firms and will likely spur “overcompliance” by companies, analysts and industry sources said. The U.S. government on Tuesday blacklisted Rosneft Trading, SA, […]
Maduro’s PDVSA Shake Up Amid Oil Emergency
(Bloomberg, 19.Feb.2020) — Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro declared an “energy emergency” as he announced a commission to revamp state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, redoubling efforts to shore up the nation’s crumbling oil industry. Economy Vice President Tareck El Aissami will lead the commission, which will focus on boosting […]
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 […]
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 a lifeline to President Nicolas Maduro’s government. The sanctions announced by the U.S. Treasury Department increase the pressure on Russia, […]
Rosneft Says US Sanctions On RTSA Illegal
(Rosneft, 18.Feb.2020) — The sanctions announced by the U.S. Treasury Department against Rosneft’s subsidiary RTSA and its Chairman are illegal, unjustified, and an act of legal abuse. Rosneft has been implementing its projects in Venezuela in strict compliance with rules of international and national laws. In the course of the […]
Ending Putin’s Support Of Venezuela Not Easy For US
(AP, 18.Feb.2020) — In October 2016, the head of Russia’s largest oil company traveled to the birthplace of Hugo Chávez, in the empty, sweltering plains of Venezuela, to unveil a giant bronze statue of the late socialist leader that he and his longtime friend, Russian President Vladimir Putin, commissioned from […]
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 the Trump administration likely never anticipated when it put sanctions in place over a year ago. The situation has created […]
PDVSA Seeks Buyers For 677 Mb/d Of February Crude
(S&P Global Platts, 14.Feb.2020) — Venezuela’s state owned PDVSA has 677,000 b/d of crude available to sell for February, but no buyers because of US sanctions, according to a company official. “The climbing of US sanctions against the Nicolas Maduro government alienated the few clients that were still daring to […]
PDVSA Steps Up Shipments To Cuba
(Reuters, 14.Feb.2020) — Venezuela’s state energy firm PDVSA has been shipping more oil this month to close ally Cuba, as tighter U.S. sanctions have worsened fuel shortages on the Caribbean island, according to sources and internal company documents seen by Reuters. Six vessels, most of them owned by PDVSA’s maritime […]
Chavez’s Legacy Oil Hasn’t Been Broken?
(The Globe and Mail, 13.Feb.2020) — In terms of its trademark nationalist approach to its economy – the crown jewel of which has long been the country’s oil industry – Venezuela doesn’t seem like what it used to be. First, in 2019, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro – who succeeded Hugo […]
Citgo Names Jack Lynch As Chief Compliance Officer
(Citgo, 11.Feb.2020) — Citgo Petroleum Corporation announced the appointment of Jack Lynch as the company’s new Chief Compliance & Ethics Officer. Lynch will continue to serve as the Vice President of Legal & Government Affairs, a role he has held since October 2019. As Citgo’s new Chief Compliance & Ethics […]
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, according to multiple PdV upstream and marketing officials. A presidential commission created on 19 February to reorganize PdV has instructed […]
Beyond The Dragon Deal
(Trinidad Newsday, 5.Feb.2020) — One of the biggest lessons we can take away from the pausing of the landmark cross-border agreement between TT and Venezuela is how our interests are inherently wrapped up with international politics. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s confirmation on Monday that US sanctions have had an […]
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. Russia has helped Maduro weather a political crisis as the United States has targeted Caracas with sanctions and, like dozens […]
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 States sanctions on Venezuela’s state energy giant Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA). The Caribbean island nation is a major exporter […]
Venezuela Lawmakers Eye Private Sector Oil Role
(Reuters, 28.Jan.2020) — A group of Venezuelan lawmakers backed by the ruling Socialist Party are exploring ways to increase the participation of private companies in the OPEC nation’s oilfields, one of the legislators said in an interview on Tuesday. Lawmakers calling themselves opponents of President Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 5 […]
Venezuela Weighs Privatizing Oil
(Bloomberg, 27.Jan.2020) — Facing economic collapse and painful sanctions, the socialist government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has proposed giving majority shares and control of its oil industry to big international corporations, a move that would forsake decades of state monopoly. Maduro’s representatives have held talks with Russia’s Rosneft PJSC, […]
PDVSA Total Debt Remained Unchanged In 2019
(Reuters, 27.Jan.2020) — Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA said its financial debt fell less than 0.1% in 2019 from the prior year to some $34.5 billion, though it remained in default on its bonds as sanctions freeze it out of the global banking system. PDVSA, which is short for Petroleos […]
PDVSA refineries Amuay and Cardon shuttered
CARACAS, VENEZUELA (By S&P Global Platts, 27.Jan.2020, Words: 249) — PDVSA has shut down its last two operating refineries in Venezuela, closing its Amuay and Cardon facilities at the Paraguana Refining Center (CRP), the largest refining complex in the country, according to a technical report seen Monday by S&P Global […]
PDVSA PetroPiar President Eyes Higher Output
(Energy Analytics Institute, Aaron Simonsky, 24.Jan.2020) — PDVSA PetroPiar President Gabriel Carmona and executives from the mixed company’s management team help meetings to discuss ways to accelerate administrative and operational processes related to the company’s Operational Bare Center (COB) and San Remo. The meetings addressed ways to increase PetroPiar’s oil […]
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 by Argus. In the first half of January, a half dozen tankers loaded at state-owned PdV’s Jose terminal, most recently […]
Payment Demands In Crypto Pauses Some Oil Purchases
(Bloomberg, 16.Jan.2020) — Some buyers of Venezuelan crude oil have halted purchases after the country started demanding payment of port fees in its failed cryptocurrency. Exports of at least 1 million barrels of oil were put on hold after the government announced this week that certain maritime fees, currently paid […]
China Scaling Back Economic Support For Maduro: Envoy
(Reuters, 15.Jan.2020) — The Trump administration’s envoy on Venezuela said China appears to be scaling back economic support for President Nicolas Maduro, and Beijing acknowledged a diminishing role largely due to U.S. sanctions against the OPEC nation. As China’s economic activities have declined, Maduro and his socialist government are becoming […]
Abrams Sees China Scaling Back Support For Maduro
(Reuters, 15.Jan.2020) — The Trump administration’s envoy on Venezuela said China appears to be scaling back economic support for President Nicolas Maduro, and Beijing acknowledged a diminishing role largely due to U.S. sanctions against the OPEC nation. As China’s economic activities have declined, Maduro and his socialist government are becoming […]
Maduro Authorizes Sale Of 4.5 MMbbls In Petros
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 14.Jan.2020) — Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro signed a decree for the mandatory and immediate fulfillment of the sale of 4.5 million barrels of crude oil in Petros from the certified physical reserve stock of 30 million barrels currently held by state oil company PetrĂłleos de […]
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, sparking fury on the Dutch-controlled island. In a 27 December letter obtained by Argus, Citgo Aruba Refining (CAR) told workers […]
PDVSA’s Partners As Oil Traders Amid Sanctions
(Reuters, 13.Jan.2020) — Venezuela, its oil exports decimated by U.S. sanctions, is testing a new method of getting its crude to market: allocating cargoes to joint-venture partners including Chevron Corp, which in turn market the oil to customers in Asia and Africa. This would not violate sanctions as long as […]
After $1bn Venezuela Deal, US Oilfield Firm Shuts Doors
(Reuters, 12.Jan.2020) — An Oklahoma oilfield company that played a central role in Venezuela’s high profile attempt to convince the world it could halt production declines at its dilapidated oilfields has shut its doors, according to three people familiar with the matter. In 2016, Horizontal Well Drillers, a closely held […]
Citgo Announces Small Grants Program Winners
(Citgo, 24.Jan.2020) — The SimĂłn BolĂvar Foundation Inc. (SBF), a non-profit, private foundation of CITGO Petroleum Corporation, awarded seven grants totaling $100,000 to nonprofits that expand access to medicine, health care services, and health education to vulnerable individuals in and from Venezuela. The grant winners were recognized at an SBF […]
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 control of the National Assembly. Guaido, accompanied by allied deputies, pushed past heavy security surrounding the assembly this morning and […]
Venezuelan Oil Exports Fell By A Third In 2019
(Reuters, 7.Jan.2020) — Venezuela’s oil exports plummeted 32% last year to 1.001 million barrels per day, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and state-run PDVSA’s reports, as a lack of staff and capital drove output to its lowest level in almost 75 years and U.S. sanctions shrank exports markets. The drop […]
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 later this month and could ratchet up oil sanctions on foreign companies still working in the South American country, analysts […]
PDVSA, Chevron Turn Oil Blender Back Into upgrader
(Reuters, 3.Jan.2020) — Venezuela’s Petropiar facility, a joint venture between state oil company PDVSA and Chevron Corp, is once again operating as a crude upgrader after several months working as a less complex blending facility, according to a document seen by Reuters and a source with knowledge of the matter. […]
PDVSA Cedes Oilfield Operations To Foreign Firms
(Reuters, 3.Jan.2020) — Venezuelan state company PDVSA is letting some joint venture partners take over the day-to-day operation of oilfields as its own capacity dwindles due to sanctions and a lack of cash and staff, according to a former oil minister, an opposition lawmaker and industry sources. Crude production by […]
Venezuela Is Quietly Ramping Up Oil Production
(Oilprice.com, 31.Dec.2019) — If anyone is to ever write a guidebook on political survival, the skills of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would certainly top the contemporary charts. This autumn went relatively well for the besieged leader as the political headlines drifted towards the US-China trade wars, OPEC+ production cuts and […]