Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 26

LatAmOil VENEZUEL A LatAmOil

Venezuelan oil production

and exports fell in June

VENEZUELA reportedly saw crude oil output the news agency said. This represents a drop of
and exports drop significantly in the month of about 18% on the May figure and is the lowest
June. monthly export volume recorded in 1943.
According to technical reports from the Reuters did not provide a breakdown of Ven-
national oil company (NOC) PdVSA cited by ezuela’s exports in June. It did report, though,
S&P Global Platts, the South American coun- that the export figure was only slightly lower
try extracted 280,000 barrels per day of oil last than the country’s total crude and fuel produc-
month. This marked a 49.1% drop on the pre- tion in the same month.
vious month, when production levels averaged Additionally, it reported that Venezuela had
550,000 bpd. exported 82,300 bpd of oil to Cuba in June, up
The decline was most evident in the Orinoco from 67,000 bpd in May. Exports to Europe rose
Belt, Venezuela’s main production province. slightly month on month, reaching 130,000 bpd
Data from the technical reports show that fields because of an increase in deliveries to Italy’s Eni
in this area yielded 90,000 bpd in June, down by and Spain’s Repsol, it said. (These European
67.9% on the May figure of 280,000 bpd. transactions were not subject to US sanctions
One of the factors bringing production down because these companies have obtained exemp-
was full inventories. That is, PdVSA and its for- tions for swaps and debt payments, Reuters
eign partners had little incentive to maximise explained.) ™
output levels. They could not store the extra bar-
rels, since Venezuela’s domestic market cannot
absorb them, and could not send excess supplies
to PdVSA’s refineries, which are operating far
below capacity because of difficulties carrying
out repair and maintenance work. Nor could
they export the surplus, since US sanctions have
discouraged oil companies, commodity traders
and marine operators from buying or handling
Venezuelan crude and fuels.
Indeed, exports do appear to have gone down
in June, according to Reuters, which reached
this conclusion on the basis of PdVSA’s load-
ing schedules and data from Refinitiv Eikon.
Venezuela exported 379,000 bpd of crude oil
and petroleum products in 17 separate cargoes, Most of Venezuela’s oil comes from the Orinoco Belt (Image: USGS)

GUYANA
ICJ begins hearings on border dispute

between Guyana and Venezuela

ExxonMobil’s Stabroek block lies off the coast of Essequibo province, the subject of the quarrel

THE International Court of Justice (ICJ) has these hearings. Howeve, Guyana’s government
begun oral hearings on a border dispute between designated Sir Shridath Ramphal, a promi-
Guyana and Venezuela that could affect the fate nent local lawyer and politician, as its main
of an ExxonMobil-led offshore project. representative.
The court launched proceedings on July 1 by The ICJ’s first task was to address the ques-
conducting virtual hearings. tion of whether it had standing to consider the
No Venezuelan officials were in attendance at matter at hand.

Week 25 25•June•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13