Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 42 2021

LatAmOil VENEZUEL A LatAmOil

Through JCUK, Inpex and its partners had Japanese company had sold both of the stake to
held a 5% stake in Petroindependencia, a joint a Venezuelan company known as Sucre Energy
venture company formed to develop Carabobo Group. They said Sucre now owned 100% of
Project 3, a section of the eastern section of the equity in Petroguarico, following its purchase of
Orinoco belt that contains extra-heavy crude the 70% stake that Inpex had held, as well as a
oil. Petroindependencia also includes a subsidi- 30% stake previously owned by PdVSA. It was
ary of Venezuela’s national oil company (NOC) not immediately clear whether Sucre had done
PdVSA. the same for Gas Guarico, which was previously
As of press time, neither Inpex nor its part- divided between Inpex with 30% and PdVSA
ners had disclosed the identity of the buyer or with 70%. ™
the value of the deal. Inpex did say, though, that
it expected the sale to have a minimal impact on
its finances.
The Japan Carabobo joint venture was
formed in 2010. Its members decided in June
of this year to shed their minority stake in the
project.
Inpex recently sold its shares in two other
Venezuelan projects to a local company. Sources
familiar with the matter told Reuters in late
August that the Japanese firm had transferred
its stakes in Petroguarico, a joint venture formed
to extract oil from the Copa Macoya field in
Guarico State, and Gas Guarico, a separate
joint venture that focuses on the production of
non-associated gas from the same site.
The news agency’s sources did not comment
on the value of the deal, but they did say that the Carabobo is a section of the Orinoco Belt (Image: Mitsubishi)

Venezuela reportedly gearing up

to send heavy crude oil to Iran

VENEZUELA was reportedly preparing to send crude-for-condensate swap earlier this year and
about 2mn barrels of heavy crude oil to Iran then loaded up its first cargo of Merey for export
within the framework of a crude-for-condensate to Iran in September. The state-owned Iranian
swap as of October 16. firm may use the Venezuelan barrels as refinery
On that date, Reuters reported that the Dino feedstock or a blending component, but it may
I, a very large crude carrier (VLCC) owned by also seek to sell it to buyers in Asia, Reuters said.
National Iranian Tanker Co. (NITC), was pre- NIOC is also due to send a second cargo of
paring to depart from the port of Jose, which is condensate to the South American state within
home to a terminal complex owned by Venezue- the next few weeks, the news agency noted. This
la’s national oil company (NOC) PdVSA. The shipment will be similar in size to the first, which
VLCC finished loading up with Merey grade was brought into Jose by a tanker that had shut
crude on October 15, according to documents off its transponder in a bid to evade the US sanc-
viewed by the news agency and a number of ves- tions regime. The US government is working to
sel tracking services. restrict trade with both Iran and Venezuela, but
PdVSA is sending the heavy crude oil to Iran when contacted by Reuters, Treasury Depart-
after taking delivery of a shipment of 2.1mn ment officials declined to say whether any of the
barrels of gas condensate in September. The parties involved might be subjected to penalties.
state-owned company hopes to use those Ira- As of press time, neither PdVSA, NIOC nor
nian volumes to increase output, as it often uses NITC had commented on the matter.
condensate to dilute its extra-heavy crude and PdVSA is keen to find new supplies of con-
make it easier to use. It has already directed the densate so that it can support ongoing efforts to
condensate to the Petrocedeno, Petropiar and bring its crude oil production up to 1.5mn bar-
Sinovensa projects, which are targeting oilfields rels per day (bpd). The country has seen output
in the Orinoco Belt. levels dip significantly since the imposition in
The Venezuelan NOC struck an agreement early 2019 of US sanctions that specifically target
with National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) on the the oil sector. ™

Week 42 21•October•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11