Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 10 2023

LatAmOil COLOMBIA LatAmOil

The hostage situation arose on March 2 after statement condemning the violence at Capella
local farmers clashed with the police on March 2 A. In the statement, it noted that the area had
and then broke into the oilfield, a site in Colom- been experiencing road blockages within the
bia’s southern Caqueta Province operated by past 40 days. ™
Sinochem’s Emerald Energy subsidiary.
After entering Capella A, the demonstra-
tors set various installations on fire, declaring
that they were protesting over the fact that the
government and Emerald Energy had failed to
carry out road repair projects that were allegedly
promised more than a year ago, Caracol Noticias
reported.
Colombia’s oil industry has often drawn vio-
lent attacks from rebel groups and resistance
from local communities. As a result, the country
has not had an easy time reversing the decline
in its crude oil production, which is a crucial
source of export revenue.
In a Twitter post on March 3, President
Petro announced that Defence Minister Ivan
Velasquez would lead efforts to reduce civil
unrest from San Jose del Caguan. In separate
Twitter posts, he asked the Red Cross to assist
the people who had been taken hostage and
attributed the violence to “groups that want to
destroy this government and plunge Colombia
into war.”
As of press time, Sinochem had not yet com-
mented publicly on the incident.
The Colombian Oil and Gas Association Government officials and community representatives have been meeting
(ACP), a private industry group, released a for discussions in San Vicente del Caguán (Photo: Twitter/@ColResistiendo)

VENEZUELA
Venezuela using more US naphtha as

shipments of Iranian condensate decline

VENEZUELA has become increasingly regime imposed by the US Treasury Depart-
dependent on naphtha imported from the US ment’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC).
as a diluent for heavy crude oil as condensate Under the exemption granted last November,
shipments from have declined, according to a known as General Law 41 (GL 41), it is send-
report from Argus Media. ing naphtha to help its joint ventures with Ven-
Citing data from the oil analytics firm Vor- ezuela’s national oil company (NOC) PdVSA
texa, Argus Media reported on March 2 that the increase crude production. The joint ventures
US major Chevron had shipped around 1.57mn cannot use Iranian condensate because OFAC
barrels of naphtha from its Galena Park termi- rules bar Chevron from using Iranian materials.
nal on the Texas coast to the Venezuelan port of Representatives of Chevron have confirmed
Jose. The company was able to start delivering that the company is probably now produc-
naphtha to Venezuela after securing a six-month ing more than 90,000 barrels per day of crude
exemption from US sanctions in November. oil in Venezuela. (Independent observers and
By contrast, a tanker from Iran offloaded in-country sources have put the figure at about
about 440,000 barrels of South Pars condensate 100,000 bpd.) The US major has said it hopes to
in January. This was the only Iranian condensate bring production up to 200,000 bpd by the end
cargo sent to Venezuela so far this year, and it of this year.
marked a 78% drop on the 2mn barrels of Ira- PdVSA had previously viewed Iranian con-
nian diluent delivered in January 2022. densate as a crucial means of pushing up oil out-
Chevron is the only US company that eligi- put, which has sunk since the imposition of US
ble to operate in Venezuela under the sanctions sanctions on the oil sector in early 2019.

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