How Venezuela Almost Went To Increase Its Oil This Year | Oil and Gas Issues

Venezuela this year almost doubled its oil production since last year’s decline when its state-owned company entered into agreements that allowed them to run more oil to export.

This dramatic change began when the Petroleos de Venezuelaan government, known as the PDVSA, received support from small-scale debt repayment companies and later acquired residual oil reserves from Iran. The pair raised output to 824,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November, up from three quarters a year and 90 percent higher than the average monthly rate last year.

It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. Years of unpaid debt, mismanagement and, more recently, U.S. sanctions have reduced access to specialized drilling rigs and foreign exchange. The sanctions have also reduced its customers to companies with no business history.

The recent benefits of PDVSA – including up to one million daily barrels for the first time in almost three years, which Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami described in a Christmas message as a “great achievement” – have yet to achieve the 2021 goal of current leaders. 1.28 million bpd.

Workers at the oil refineries say the reopening of the oil refinery is under way and more oil refineries are expected to resume. However, oil analysts say PDVSA has done everything it can and some of the benefits should be followed by the lack of additional equipment and controls that work like bitumen.

“Start-up production in 2021 was less than the production of PDVSA,” said Francisco Monaldi, director of the Latin American Energy Program at Rice University’s Baker Institute in Houston. “We are getting there now. To see growth in 2022, the sale of new wells and renovations is essential, “he added.

With the help of allies

The big change came as a result of an exchange between the state-owned PDVSA and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) which began in September. It became an important factor in the production of export grades from the heaviest materials produced in the Venezuelan highlands, the Orinoco Belt.

Payments from domestic oil retailers and the export of more oil to Asia have also allowed PDVSA to repay some of the loans and operating companies that are close to promising future performance and permits that have allowed other domestic companies to operate.

Several operating companies also approve additional costs, especially crude oil and fossil fuels that are exported abroad and abroad, according to people familiar with the matter.

As of mid-December, there were 47 active vehicles operating in the Orinoco Belt and 29 others in other areas, according to an internal PDVSA document reviewed by Reuters. The same report also showed 19 other people who were weak. No operational drilling equipment, required for developing output power, was reported.

PDVSA did not respond to a request for comment. The United States Treasury Department, which imposes sanctions on PDVSA, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Finding the lost space

Venezuela reported that 569,000 bpd of last year generated 569,000 bpd last year and exports amounted to 627,000 bpd as PDVSA produced loose items. Authorized numbers did not select imported ingredients or water found in stored foods.

But independent experts and experts have acknowledged that production has returned. Consultancy IPD Latin America estimates that Venezuela’s output will be between 640,000-660,000 bpd this year, excluding condensate and gas beverages.

In eastern Venezuela, two nonprofit rehabilitation projects – Petro San Felix and Petrodelta – are seeking funding to continue growing production, said Antero Alvarado, a fellow Gas Energy project manager.

Coiled-tubing companies have helped reopen wells in the area, two sources said.

“PDVSA has reimbursed creditors,” Alvarado said. The company also upgraded three of its 750 horsepower shipped from China, with a view to launching them next year, he said.

In the western part of the country, where armed robbery is rampant, at least two separate operations – in the oil fields of Tia Juana and Cabimas – are set to release almost twice in 2022, people familiar with the operation said.

“Manufacturing is starting here again. The working equipment has not rested,” said a staff member at Lake Maracaibo in northwestern Venezuela. He also said that some of the vacant lots are expected to start again in 2022.

Obstacles remain

Late repayment is expected to remain a major issue. Agreements with oil companies to resume operations are fragile and could end if PDVSA does not keep its promises.

“The debt is still growing because companies are being paid less compared to what they do each month at PDVSA,” said the contractor, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation.

An employee of one company said his company has been operating over the course of the year due to financial constraints.

In the Orinoco region, where solvents are essential for efficient production, forcing the production to exceed the current volume would also require a single oil refiner, on the Petromonagas or Petro San Felix project, to make better use of the oil, experts said.

The structures of PDVSA for extracting and storing ingredients have been thin. Since the regular export from Iran began there have been delays in export, according to internal company documents. PDVSA also had to use the necessary tanks to store the ingredients.