Page 10 - LatAmOil Week 30 2021

LatAmOil VENEZUEL A LatAmOil

PdVSA receives first cargo of

condensate since last September

VENEZUELA’S national oil company (NOC) if not increase, production of extra-heavy crude
PdVSA has taken delivery of its first gas con- grades.”
densate cargo since the third quarter of last Venezuela’s oil output peaked at around
year in spite of the US sanctions regime, which 2.4mn bpd in 2015 but has been trending
is designed to isolate the country’s petroleum downward ever since. The decline has acceler-
industry. ated since early 2019, when the US government
According to documents viewed by Bloomb- imposed strict limits on investment in Venezue-
erg last week, the condensate was brought to the la’s oil sector in the hope of convincing President
Venezuelan port of Jose by the Rene, a Panama- Nicolas Maduro to relinquish power.
nian-flagged supertanker. As of press time, the The sanctions regime has not been entirely
origin of the cargo was still unknown. The doc- successful, as PdVSA has continued to trade
uments noted that the ship’s most recent port of crude oil and petroleum products around the
call had been Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, and stated world with help from intermediaries in China,
that the vessel’s satellite transponder had been Russia and elsewhere. Even so, it has sped up the
turned off before its arrival in Venezuela. decline in production. Additionally, it has pre-
The cargo is the first shipment of condensate vented the NOC from keeping its production,
to reach Venezuela since September 2020, when transportation and refining infrastructure in
another tanker delivered a load from Iran to good working order, since the sanctions regime
PdVSA. has reduced oil export revenues and hindered
The NOC is keen to secure additional sup- efforts to buy parts and equipment. As a result,
plies of condensate because it is trying to increase refined fuels have been scarce in Venezuela for
oil output. Most of Venezuela’s oilfields contain the last few years, and supplies dried up even
extra-heavy crude, which is often diluted with more over the last year as PdVSA’s oil production
lighter production streams (or combined with levels and refinery throughput remained low. ™
water to form synthetic fuels) to make it easier
to use. PdVSA views condensate as suitable for
this purpose, so it is probably keen to use the lat-
est shipment to support ongoing efforts to bring
production up to 1.5mn barrels per day, nearly
triple the current rate of about 529,000 bpd.
Nevertheless, the company cannot achieve
this goal with only one shipment. As Fernando
Ferreira, a director of geopolitical risk at the
Rapidan Energy consultancy, told Bloomberg
last week: “The diluents will help PdVSA sustain, PdVSA blends condensate with heavy oil (Photo: EFE)

GUYANA
TechnipFMC confirms fibre-optic

sensing contract for Payara field

TECHNIPFMC, the international oilfield ser- results, TechnipFMC touted the scope of its
vices provider, confirmed last week that Exx- agreement with ExxonMobil. “ExxonMobil
onMobil (US) had decided to use Odassea™, an selected the solution for its Payara development
advanced downhole subsea fibre-optic sensing project in Guyana, the industry’s largest subsea
system, at Payara, the third development target fibre-optic sensing project,” it said. “The award
at the Stabroek block offshore Guyana. followed completion of front-end engineering
In a statement announcing its second-quarter and design [FEED] studies and qualifications.”

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 30 29•July•2021