Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 41 2022

LatAmOil VENEZUEL A LatAmOil

Sources familiar with the matter told the Wall However, Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman
Street Journal last week that the administra- for the National Security Council (NSC), cau-
tion of US President Joe Biden was gearing up tioned that “constructive steps from the Maduro
to soften the sanctions regime, which includes regime” would be required for the US to con-
provisions designed to discourage investment in sider softening the sanctions.
Venezuela’s petroleum sector. Venezuela has a long history of being a
This shift would be conditional on agreement major oil producer. In the 1990s, it saw output
by the government of Venezuelan President top 3.2mn barrels per day (bpd). However, pro-
Nicolás Maduro to re-enter suspended talks on duction levels have plummeted since then. The
the holding of free and fair national elections in decline is partly due to corruption, mismanage-
2024, they said. ment, under-investment and the misallocation
If Maduro’s regime accepts those terms, the of funds. However, conditions have worsened
sources noted, it would be able to access millions since early 2019, when the US government
of dollars of Venezuelan state funds deposited in imposed trade restrictions that led most interna-
US banks, per the terms of another agreement tional oil companies (IOCs) to withdraw from
struck with the US and some members of Ven- the country and stop importing Venezuela’s
ezuela’s political opposition. Under that agree- heavy crude.
ment, Caracas is supposed to use these funds to Any easing of sanctions by the US would
pay for imports of food and medicines, along boost the world oil market’s confidence in
with crucial equipment to support the operation Venezuela as a supply option. This notion may
of Venezuela’s ageing power transmission grid have become more attractive to Washington in
and municipal water systems. the wake of the recent decision by the OPEC+
According to the Wall Street Journal, US group to reduce production quotas by 2mn bpd
officials did confirm last week that the details in response to declining oil prices. Biden has
of such a policy shift were under discussion. protested against this move. ™

GUYANA
Canadian official backs Guyana’s plans to

develop both oil and renewable energy

MARK Berman, the Canadian High Commis-
sioner to Guyana, said at the Guyana Basins
Summit (GBS) last week that he did not see the
country’s plans to develop its oil industry as well
as its renewable energy sector as contradictory.
Berman stressed that Guyana was taking
steps to ensure that exploration and develop-
ment projects in its offshore zone were less car-
bon-intensive petroleum than those carried out
by other states. He also pointed out that since oil
export revenues could be invested into efforts to
expand the use of renewable energy, the petro-
leum sector could indeed serve as a vehicle for
the green energy transition.
“There is a very sound argument and I have
heard the leaders of Guyana ask: ‘Why not Guy-
ana?’ I think that if you look at the LCDS [Low
Carbon Development Strategy], you can see that Berman (second from left on stage), shown speaking during
there is a plan to do that. You are already seeing GBS panel discussion event (Images: Twitter/@CanAmbGuyana)
the large solar farms that are going to be set up,”
Berman during a panel discussion. The summit aims to facilitate discussions on
He went on to note that Guyana was seeking Guyana’s social, economic and environmental
to encourage the use of other energy sources needs and connect international energy oper-
as well as fossil fuels. So long as the necessary ators, technology experts, licence holders and
resources are devoted to the development of infrastructure developers in an effort to identify
renewable energy solutions, there will be no the best methods for conducting business with
clash in agendas, he asserted. new partners.

Week 41 12•October•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9