2019-03-11 11:15:00
VENEZUELA'S PAYMENT TO CONOCO $8.7 BLN
PLATTS - An international tribunal on Friday ordered Venezuela to pay ConocoPhillips roughly $8.7 billion in compensation for the seizure of company assets in 2007.
Among other payments, the World Bank Group's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes ordered Friday that Venezuela must pay nearly $4.5 billion to compensate for the seizure of ConocoPhillips' Hamaca project and nearly $3.4 billion to compensate for the seizure of its Petrozuata project. In addition to those two heavy oil projects in the Orinoco Belt, the tribunal ordered Venezuela to pay more than $562 million in compensation for the seizure of ConocoPhillips' Corocoro projects in the southwestern Gulf of Paria.
ConocoPhillips helped Venezuela develop the Petrozuata, Hamaca and Corocoro projects with "industry-leading technology and substantial long-term investments," before the projects were seized by the then-Chavez government in 2007, the company said.
The award announced Friday follows an April 2018 award of $2 billion against Venezuela, state-owned oil company PDVSA and two subsidiaries, to ConocoPhillips for the seizure of the Hamaca and Petrozuata projects. Arbitration against PDVSA on the Corocoro project is still pending, ConocoPhillips said.
Friday's decision "upholds the principle that governments cannot unlawfully expropriate private investments without paying compensation," Kelly Rose, ConocoPhillips' senior vice president, legal, general counsel and corporate secretary, said in a statement.
It is unclear how US sanctions on PDVSA, aimed at removing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power, will impact Friday's decision.
On January 28, the US Department of the Treasury unveiled sweeping sanctions on PDVSA, setting an immediate ban on US exports of diluent to Venezuela and requiring payments made to PDVSA to be through blocked accounts, setting up a de facto ban on US imports of Venezuela crude. The US, and dozens of other nations, recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate president.
S&P Global Platts Analytics forecasts that US sanctions will cause Venezuelan crude output, which averaged about 1.2 million b/d in January, to fall to 825,000 b/d in the fourth quarter of this year and then to fall to an average of 750,000 b/d in 2020.
Venezuela produced 1.10 million b/d of crude in February, down 60,000 b/d month on month, according to an S&P Global Platts survey released Thursday.
Venezuela's oil production has fallen 910,000 b/d in two years and is at its lowest point since a strike in late 2002 and early 2003, according to Platts survey data.
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Earlier:
2019, February, 27, 09:10:00
VENEZUELA'S OIL FOR CHINA
PLATTS - China's crude imports from Venezuela surged 50.7% month on month to 411,000 b/d or 1.74 million mt in January, posting the fifth month in a row of increase after hitting a four-year low last September, data released by the General Administration of Customs showed
2019, February, 27, 09:05:00
STRONG VENEZUELA SANCTIONS
PLATTS - The US is set to impose "even stronger sanctions" on Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro's financial networks, likely further hindering crude oil production and exports as US sanctions on state-owned oil company PDVSA entered their fifth week, US Vice President Mike Pence said Monday.
2019, February, 8, 11:35:00
U.S., VENEZUELA SANCTIONS
EIA - Recently announced U.S. sanctions directed at Venezuela’s energy sector and state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), will essentially eliminate U.S. imports of Venezuelan crude oil as the full effects of the sanctions emerge. However, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) does not anticipate any significant decrease in U.S. refinery runs as a result of these sanctions.
2019, February, 1, 11:30:00
U.S. LOOSE VENEZUELA'S OIL 500 TBD
PLATTS- US refiners cannot rely on Mexico to replace Venezuelan heavy oil imports as the country is battling to reverse its declining production and Pemex's oil is sold under contractual basis, analysts and others say.
2019, January, 30, 11:35:00
WEAK VENEZUELA SANCTIONS
OGJ - “The sanctions will affect refinery margins in the US. Now they will have to import heavy crude from the Middle East at a premium. US refiners will be amongst the biggest losers, as we have noted earlier,” Rodriguez-Masiu said.
2019, January, 30, 11:30:00
U.S., VENEZUELA SANCTIONS ALWAYS
PLATTS - The Trump administration announced Monday that it will sanction PDVSA, Venezuela's state-owned oil company, a move that could suspend roughly 500,000 b/d of Venezuelan crude exports to US Gulf Coast refineries and shut down US exports of diluents to the South American nation.
