![The lifting of sanctions and the oil collapse of Venezuela [PDF download]](https://energy-analytics-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Venezuela-requests-the-extradition-of-former-PDVSA-president-Rafael-Ramirez.jpg)
(Rafael RamÃrez, 16.Nov.2023) — On 18 Oct., the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)[1] issued Licenses 43 and 44,[2] lifting the sanctions on the Venezuelan oil and mining sector that had been in place since Jan. 2019. The OFAC measure is of a temporary nature, for a period of six months, subject to compliance […]
Tag: The Faja
NRGBriefs: May Day Celebrations, No Expropriations Expected
(Energy Analytics Institute, 1.May.2022) — Energy briefs including Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Keith Rowley and Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Stuart Young visiting Washington, DC to discuss regional energy matters; May Day (1 May) celebrations taking place across the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region but no […]
FACT BOX: Why it’s necessary to upgrade Venezuela’s heavy oils
PANAMA CITY, PANAMA (By Piero Stewart, Energy Analytics Institute, 29.Apr.2022, Words: 108) — The purpose for upgrading Venezuela’s heavy and extra-heavy crude oil (EHCO) is to achieve substantial changes in values that determine the quality of the oil. Such changes include: increasing the API value; reducing viscosity; reducing the content […]
EAI brief analysis: Venezuela’s Faja contains 1,360 billion barrels of OOIP
CARACAS, VENEZUELA (By Piero Stewart, Energy Analytics Institute, 22.Apr.2022, Words: 130) — Venezuela is home to the Hugo Chávez Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt, also known as the Faja, which contains original oil in place (OOIP) estimated at 1,360 billion barrels, making it the world’s largest accumulation of heavy and extra-heavy […]
Brief History: Venezuela’s Heavy Oils and Extraction Strategies
(Energy Analytics Institute, 13.Mar.2022) — A brief history of Venezuela’s initial crude discovery in 1914 and the eventual move to focus on the Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt. Brief History In 1914, Venezuela’s first important heavy oil field, Mene Grade, was discovered. Initial production from the shallow sands located at 550 […]
Venezuela Resorts To Upgraded Oil For Refineries
(Reuters, 8.Jul.2021) — Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA has started producing two upgraded crude grades for domestic refining, aiming at reanimating the country’s much-needed output of motor fuels, according to a company document and sources close the decision. Years of under-investment in PDVSA’s 1.3 million-barrel-per-day capacity refining network and U.S. […]
PDVSA Restarts Drilling Campaign Suspended Since 2019
(S&P Global, 29.Jun.2021) — In the second half of the year, Venezuela’s state-owned PDVSA will restart the drilling of oil wells while intensifying work to open 3,700 shuttered wells and to recover compression and gas injection capacity needed to increase crude output, according to an internal “Operational Follow-up Plan” report […]
Venezuelan Oil Flow Recedes
(Argus, 8.Apr.2021) — Venezuelan crude production fell back in early April after state-owned PdV diverted limited diluent and light crude from Orinoco heavy oil operations to its recovering refining sector. Output from the Orinoco heavy oil belt declined from around 360,000 b/d in late March to less than 200,000 b/d […]
China, Russia, Venezuela: Q&A With Thomas O’Donnell
(Energy Analytics Institute, 13.Feb.2021) — China and Russia continue to push around their might in Venezuela. Thomas O’Donnell with the Hertie School of Governance & Freie Universität-Berlin weighs in briefly here. Energy Analytics Institute: What might China and Russia be willing to do this year to assist Venezuela’s President Nicolas […]
Venezuela Crude Stocks Drop As Exports Pick Up
(Reuters, 26.Jan.2021) — Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA’s inventories of its main export crude grade dipped this week to their lowest levels since late November, internal company documents seen by Reuters showed. Merey 16 stocks at the country’s main oil terminal, the Jose port, fell to 4.85 million barrels as […]
Slew Of Tankers Head Toward Venezuela
(Reuters, 11.Nov.2020) — At least 18 oil tankers are expected to load oil for export from Venezuela in the coming weeks, according to tracking data and internal documents from state-run PDVSA, in a sign the sanctioned OPEC nation’s crude exports may rebound this month. Venezuela’s oil exports fell to their […]
PDVSA prepares to boost oil blending with condensates
(Reuters, 15.Sep.2020, Words: 492) — Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA is preparing to recover a portion of the oil output lost in recent months by boosting crude blending operations at its main producing region, the Orinoco Belt, according to sources and a company document. U.S. sanctions imposed since 2019 have deprived PDVSA […]
Quality Issues Add Delays To Venezuela’s Oil Exports
(Reuters, 13.Aug.2020) — Crude exports from Venezuela are facing growing delays due to excess water and other impurities in cargoes loaded at state-run PDVSA’s main terminal, according to internal company documents seen by Reuters, as U.S. sanctions worsen disruptions to the oil industry. In recent years, PDVSA has been forced […]
Venezuela Wooed Texan Lawmaker To Ease Sanctions
(AP, 22.Jun.2020) — Venezuela’s socialist government tried to recruit then-Congressman Pete Sessions to broker a meeting with the CEO of Exxon Mobil at the same time it was secretly paying a close former House colleague $50 million to keep U.S. sanctions at bay, The Associated Press has learned. An official […]
PDVSA And Eni Restart Work On Diluent Pipeline
(Energy Analytics Institute, Piero Stewart, 8.Apr.2020) — Venezuela’s state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) and the Italian oil company ENI, which comprise the Empresa Mixta PetrojunÃn, SA — a subsidiary of the Venezuelan Petroleum Corporation (CVP) — announced the restart of construction activities related to a diluent pipeline […]
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 […]
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. […]
Venezuela Oil Output Rises
(Reuters, 10.Dec.2019) — Venezuela’s crude output in November jumped more than 20% from the prior month to the highest level since the United States tightened sanctions on state oil company PDVSA in August, two people with knowledge of PDVSA data said this week. November output averaged between 926,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) […]
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 (Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.) owns the Citgo refineries in the U.S., I felt the companies that […]
Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico: Three Ways To Nationalize Oil
(CSMonitor, 12.May.2012) — Argentina’s renationalization of its biggest oil company, YPF, recently caused an outcry. But the cases of oil nationalization in Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela show that outcomes can vary widely. “Nationalization is an old story in Latin America,” says Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. […]