Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 03 2023

LatAmOil VENEZUELA LatAmOil

The asset seizure occurred Chavez’s death in for comment, ConocoPhillips declined to
2013 and replacement by Nicolas Maduro, the respond directly, instead offering the following
former vice president. statement: “Regarding PdVSA recovery efforts,
In a bid to retrieve its expropriated assets, ConocoPhillips is committed to pursuing all
ConocoPhillips has entered into preliminary available legal avenues to protect our rights and
talks with Venezuela’s national oil company obtain a full and fair recovery of the awards in
(NOC) PdVSA to explore options for trans- recognition of our fiduciary responsibility to our
porting and selling Venezuela oil in the US. A shareholders.”
deal of this nature would help ConocoPhillips Meanwhile, the US State Department has
recover lost income while also meeting growing refused to answer questions pertaining to
US energy needs. ConocoPhillips’ licence. Instead, it has stood by
In 2019, the US imposed sanctions against its previous claim that its policy is designed to
Venezuela’s oil sector on the grounds of human support democracy in Venezuela.
rights violations and election fraud, alleging Reports of ConocoPhillips’ interest of Ven-
that Maduro had used illegal means to secure ezuela are emerging as Chevron, another US
re-election. Washington therefore cut off nearly company, works to act on its own permission
all of PdVSA’s trade links with world oil, gas and to take action in that country. Chevron received
fuels markets. Previously the US had been Ven- a licence from the US government in Novem-
ezuela’s main destination oil exports, and several ber to restart oil production and exports from
US Gulf Coast refineries had been built specifi- its existing joint ventures in Venezuela in what
cally to process Venezuelan heavy crude. marked the beginning of the easing of economic
The deal reportedly proposed by Cono- sanctions against the South American country.
coPhillips could help revive oil trade between According to press reports, Chevron recently
the two countries. Technically, though, the US delivered its first cargoes of Venezuelan crude
company does not have permission to engage to the US market and is now working to expand
in all activities related to such trade. The com- sales of these volumes beyond its own refining
pany has received a licence from the US Treas- network. A source with knowledge of the situa-
ury Department that enables it to negotiate debt tion told Bloomberg said that the company had
recovery with PdVSA but is not legally author- now sold its first load of Venezuelan oil – con-
ised to import Venezuelan oil. sisting of some 500,000 barrels of heavy Hamaca
When contacted by Dow Jones Newswires grade – to Phillips 66, a US refinery operator. ™

GUYANA
Guyanese oil exports up 164% in 2022

THE volume of crude oil exported from Guyana
shot up by 164% in 2022, driven by growing out-
put and surging deliveries to European custom-
ers following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to Refinitiv Eikon data cited by
Reuters, Guyana, which is currently pumping
approximately 360,000 barrels per day of oil,
exported an average of 265,963 bpd last year.
This is more than double the average volume of
100,645 bpd exported in 2021.
Europe was the recipient of 49% of total
exports in 2022. It thus outpaced China, which
absorbed 34% of total exports. Demand for
Guyanese light sweet crudes has been increas-
ing swiftly in Europe, as buyers across the conti-
nent race to replace Russian supplies. This shift
has occurred partly because of the European Guyana exported 100% of its oil production, which averaged 265,963
Union’s imposition of sanctions in response to bpd last year (Screenshot from petroleum.gov.gy/data-visualization)
the Ukrainian conflict but also stems from con-
cerns about the reputational impact of contin- though; it also stems from the rise in Guyanese
ued business dealings with Russia. production after the launch of the 220,000 bpd
In any event, since the outbreak of the Rus- Liza-2 development project in February 2022.
sian-Ukraine conflict, crude exports from Guy- In addition to Asia and Europe, Guyana has
ana have almost tripled. This is not just due to also been actively expanding its Latin American
Europe’s attempt to reduce Russian exports, customer base.

Week 03 18•January•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P9