(Argus, 11.Jun.2019) — Trinidad and Tobago has cleared Shell to develop the country’s side of a shallow-water natural gas field that straddles the maritime border with Venezuela, prime minister Keith Rowley said. The move indicates Trinidad’s “impatience” with Venezuela’s delay in agreeing on the development of the Loran-Manatee field that […]
Tag: PDVSA
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 people have been killed and many injured since 9 June as security forces attacked protesters, according to opposition groups that […]
Trinidad Moves Past Venezuela To Tap Border Gas
(Argus, 11.Jun.2019) — Trinidad and Tobago has cleared Shell to develop the country’s side of a shallow-water natural gas field that straddles the maritime border with Venezuela, prime minister Keith Rowley said. The move indicates Trinidad’s “impatience” with Venezuela’s delay in agreeing on the development of the Loran-Manatee field that […]
Energy Minister Khan: No Venezuelan Crude For Trinidad
(Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, Sean Douglas, 7.Jun.2019) — The refined oil imported by Paria Fuel Trading Company for local consumption after the closure of the Petrotrin refinery does not include oil produced by Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA, Energy Minister Franklin Khan told the Senate on Thursday. Opposition Senator Wade […]
U.S. Tightens Venezuela Oil Sanctions, Indicates More Actions To Come
(Reuters, Roberta Rampton, 6.Jun.2019) — The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday tightened its pressure on Venezuela’s state-owned oil company by making clear that exports of diluents by international shippers could be subject to U.S. sanctions. The change, announced on the Treasury Department’s website, is the latest U.S. measure aimed at […]
Citgo’s Search For CEO Moves Forward, Includes Former PDVSA Executives
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga, 6.Jun.2019) — Citgo Petroleum Corp, the U.S. arm of Venezuela’s state-run oil firm PDVSA, is moving toward appointing a new chief executive, with candidate names including former executives from PDVSA and other companies soon to be submitted to the board. In February, former CEO Asdrubal Chavez and […]
Tempers Flare As Cash Starved Venezuela Starts To Ration Petrol At The Pumps
(AFP, 5.Jun.2019 ) — Maria Lopez complains about gasoline rationing that Venezuela — home to the world’s largest oil reserves — has started introducing in some areas to tackle extreme fuel shortages. “It’s a joke,” Lopez said. But for ordinary Venezuelans, it is a cruel joke without a punchline — […]
Tanker Sabotage: Venezuela’s Crisis Worsens
(Oilprice.com, Tsvetana Paraskova, 28.May.2019) — Tankers carrying gasoline and ships transporting food for Venezuela were sabotaged last week to prevent them from reaching Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro said in a televised speech late on Monday. “Last week, sabotage was committed against ten tankers [with gasoline] to prevent them from reaching the […]
Why Venezuela, The Country With The World’s Largest Oil Reserves Its Short Of Petrol
(CNN, Stefano Pozzebon, 26.May.2019) — For many Venezuelans, oil is a birthright in the country blessed with the largest crude reserves in the world. Despite wild hyperinflation, Venezuela’s government has never increased the price of gasoline. Today, amid a crushing economic crisis, filling up a tank in Venezuela is still […]
US Tells Foreign Cos To Stop Jet Fuel Trading With Venezuela
(Reuters, Julia Payne and Dmitry Zhdannikov, 23.May.2019) — The United States told some large foreign firms this week they should stop trading jet fuel with Venezuela or face sanctions, according to two industry sources, ratcheting up pressure intended at removing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power. U.S. State Department officials […]
Colombia’s Ecopetrol Says Exports To U.S. Up On Venezuela, Higher Output
(Reuters, 22.May.2019) — Colombia’s state-run oil company Ecopetrol said on Wednesday its crude exports to the United States rose nearly 25% in the first quarter because of lower supply from neighboring Venezuela and higher production. The 4-week average for crude imports from Colombia have surged to near the highest levels […]
Repsol Winds Down Operations In Venezuela
(VOA, Martin Arostegui, 21.May.2019) — Spain’s Repsol, the last western oil giant with major operations in Venezuela, is leaving the embattled country, as pressure mounts from U.S. sanctions and continuing unrest. Repsol’s investments in Venezuela, valued at nearly $1.7 billion (1,480 billion euros) in 2017, have fallen 70% over the […]
OPEC Founder Venezuela Pumps Less Oil Than Three Of Its Neighbors
(Bloomberg, Lucia Kassai, 20.May.2019) —Venezuela, which sits atop more oil than Saudi Arabia, has fallen behind three other Latin American countries as years of mismanagement and lack of investments take its toll. The OPEC founding member produced 740,000 barrels a day in March, while Colombia’s oil reserves are less than […]
Russian Oil Sales To U.S. ‘On Steroids’ Amid Venezuela Sanctions
(Bloomberg, Sheela Tobben, 20.May.2019) — Petroleum exports from Russia to the U.S. are growing rapidly as the supplier takes advantage of lost deliveries from sanctions-hit Venezuela and supply cuts by OPEC members. In the first half of May, 13 ships from Russia delivered almost 5 million barrels of crude and […]
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 sovereign debt restructuring, will assist the self-proclaimed interim government of Juan Guaido, the head of Venezuela´s opposition-controlled National Assembly who […]
Without Venezuela’s Oil, Haiti Struggles To Keep Lights On
(AP, Ralph Thomassaint Joseph, 17.May.2019) — When her daughter was 4 years old, Jennifer Jean started a small catering business in Bourdon, a lower middle-class district of the Haitian capital. Starting with the occasional wedding or corporate meeting, she grew the business into a venture that earned her as much […]
Gas Station Lines Reappear In Venezuela As Refinery Halts, Fuel Imports Plunge
(Reuters, Mircely Guanipa and Marianna Parraga, 16.May.2019) — Gas station lines reappeared across oil-rich but crisis-stricken Venezuela this week as gasoline imports plunged and the country’s second-largest oil refinery halted operations. Shortages of motor fuel have become a periodic occurrence across OPEC member Venezuela, particularly in border regions where smuggling […]
Who Gets Venezuela’s Oil?
(CNN, Allan Dodds Frank, 16.May.2019) — Venezuela’s future is in limbo, as its embattled president continues to fend off a national movement for regime change. And whether President Nicolas Maduro consolidates his power, or opposition leader Juan Guaido takes control of the government, one longterm question hangs over the country’s […]
Venezuela’s Ad-Hoc PDVSA Board Begins Payment On Citgo-Backed 2020 Bond
(Reuters, Corina Pons and Mayela Armas, 16.May.2019) — Venezuela’s ad-hoc board of directors for state oil company PDVSA, appointed by opposition leader Juan Guaido, said on Thursday it has made an interest payment on its bond maturing in 2020, delaying uncertainty over its crown jewel U.S. asset. The PDVSA bond […]
LatAmNRG Briefs: OPEC MOMR, EP PetroEcuador Import Awards
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 14.May.2019) — Heard on the street and LatAmNRG briefs related to OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report, EP PetroEcuador awards Trafigura deal to import 2,750,000 barrels of premium diesel, and EP PetroEcuador’s plans to open envelopes related to an award to import 2,250,000 barrels of diesel […]
Contrasting Cases Of Energy Dependence: Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago
(NACLA, Zophia Edwards and Timothy M. Gill, 14.May.2019) — Trinidad and Tobago used to be as dependent on oil as Venezuela. So why hasn’t its economy suffered similar levels of crisis since oil prices began to decline? Away from the economic and political calamity in Venezuela, just seven miles off […]
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 Argus. The decline is most pronounced in the Orinoco heavy oil belt, where production has dwindled to less than 200,000 […]
PDVSA’s Oil Exports Steady In April, Flow To Cuba Continues
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga, 3.May.2019) — Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA exported 1.06 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and refined products last month, an eight percent increase from March as the sanctioned company managed to boost shipments to China, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. The U.S. government imposed the toughest sanctions […]
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 remained loyal to his government despite an attempted coup that could further threaten the OPEC producer’s oil exports. Prices rose […]
Venezuela’s Oil Industry Implosion Reaches Chevron
(Oilprice.com, Tsvetana Paraskova, 25.Apr.2019) — Massive blackouts in Venezuela in March and April have drastically reduced oil production at Chevron’s biggest oil joint venture in the country, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing data that it had compiled from company sources. Chevron holds a 30-percent stake in Petropiar, a joint venture […]
Reuters Corrects Story Saying Venezuela Is Avoiding U.S. Sanctions by Funneling Oil Sales Through Russia
(The Moscow Times, 24.Apr.2019) — Reuters has corrected a story it published on April 18 saying Venezuela is funneling cash flow from oil sales through Russian state energy giant Rosneft to evade U.S. sanctions after Rosneft threatened to ban the international news agency from operating in Russia. The story, datelined […]
PDVSA Says Morichal Electric Generation Plant Back In Service
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 24.Apr.2019) — PDVSA’s Carabobo Division of the Hugo Chávez Orinoco Oil Belt, or Faja, started up the TG200 turbogenerator at the Morichal Electric Generation Plant, the state oil company announced 24 April 2019 in an official statement. The plant will incorporate 10 megawatts (MW) of […]
PDVSA Says Oilfield Power Generator Activated After Blackouts
(Reuters, 24.Apr.2019) — Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA on Wednesday said it had activated a power generator that would allow for an increase in crude oil output, after a string of nationwide blackouts disrupted operations in the country’s heavy-crude oil Orinoco belt. The company said in a statement the generator […]
Venezuela Imports Crude For The First Time In Five Years
(Bloomberg, Lucia Kassai, 24.Apr.2019) — Oil production in Venezuela has dipped so low that the owner of the world’s largest reserves is importing crude for the first time in five years. The nation’s output fell below 1 million barrels a day to a 16-year low in March, amid rolling blackouts […]
Venezuela Seeks To Collect Some Oil Payments Via Rosneft
(Reuters, 19.Apr.2019) — The cash-strapped government is becoming increasingly reliant on the Kremlin. Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has asked at least two of its clients to make payments for Venezuelan oil via Russian state energy giant Rosneft, as it comes under pressure from U.S. sanctions, according to a PDVSA […]
Lee: Dragon Gas Deal Dead
(Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, Yvonne Webb, 19.Apr.2019) — Deputy political leader of the United National Congress, Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee, has said the Dragon gas deal between TT and Venezuela is dead and not just at a “standstill,” as claimed by Energy Minister Franklin Khan. Lee said it is now […]
Exclusive: Venezuela Skirts U.S. Sanctions By Funneling Oil Sales Via Russia
(Reuters, Marianna Parraga, 18.Apr.2019) — President Nicolas Maduro is funneling cashflow from Venezuelan oil sales through Russian state energy giant Rosneft as he seeks to evade U.S. sanctions designed to oust him from power, according to sources and documents reviewed by Reuters. The sales are the latest sign of the […]
Repsol Cuts Swap For Venezuelan Oil Under U.S. Pressure
(Reuters, Collin Eaton and Marianna Parraga, 17.Apr.2019) — Spain’s Repsol suspended its swaps of refining products for crude with Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA, people familiar with the matter said, as U.S. officials weighed penalties for foreign firms doing business with Venezuela. The Spanish oil company has been swapping fuel […]
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 western oil companies to operate in Venezuela before the lights went out in March. Now it is nearing impossible, at […]
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 […]
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 time aimed at oil shipments between Venezuela and Cuba, a country that the administration has accused of propping up Mr. […]
Venezuela flaring nearly 2 Bcf/d of gas as oil production falls
CARACAS, VENEZUELA (Pietro D. Pitts, Energy Analytics Institute, 4.Apr.2019, Words: 280) — Venezuela, home to the world’s largest oil reserves and one of Latin America’s larger oil producers, is flaring around 2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas associated with the production of the country’s bread-and-butter commodity, […]
Venezuela Blackouts Cut Oil Output by Half During March
(Bloomberg Fabiola Zerpa, 4.Apr.2019) — Power failures that plunged Venezuela into darkness for much of March also briefly slashed the country’s crude production by half, according to people familiar with the situation. Rolling blackouts across much of the country that started on March 7 paralyzed most of the country’s oil […]
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 oil company PdV in January. Most major oil tanker operators have turned away from Venezuelan crude because of legal, safety […]
LatAmNRG Paraguay Briefs: PDVSA-Petropar Case, Troche Plant Appointment
(Energy Analytics Institute, Ian Silverman, 3.Apr.2019) — Heard on the street and LatAmNRG briefs related to a tribunal’s decision to temporarily suspend a process between PDVSA and Petropar, and Parguay’s Petropar appointing an industrial chemist to head up operations at its José Troche Plant. Petropar Names Industrial Chemist To Head […]
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 throughputs of 716,000 b/d for 2018, a 9.1pc increase from the 656,333 b/d of crude processed in 2017, the company […]