ENI negotiates new contracts in Venezuela and expects to increase production at Junín 5

The Daily Journal. — Italian energy company ENI is negotiating new contracts with Venezuela and Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) to align its operations with the country’s new legal framework for the oil sector. At the same time, the company expects to accelerate development of the Junín 5 project in the Orinoco Oil Belt, Reuters reported. […]

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Reuters: Experts rule out immediate foreign investment in Venezuelan refineries

Reuters — Venezuela’s Paraguaná Refining Complex, in the country’s west, once symbolized the nation’s oil wealth and its ambition to transform vast crude reserves into fuels and export revenue. Today, however, the complex in Falcón state, with the capacity to process 955,000 barrels of crude per day (bpd), operates at only a fraction of its […]

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Reuters: Oil companies have until July 28 to adopt Venezuela’s new legal framework

Reuters — Venezuela’s Ministry of Hydrocarbons has informed PDVSA’s partners that it intends to keep the July 28 deadline for migrating oil and gas contracts to the country’s new legal framework. The ministry has urged company executives to complete negotiations before that date, according to four sources. At the end of January, Venezuela’s National Assembly […]

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Lionheart nears $400 million deal to acquire stake in PetroUrdaneta

The Daily Journal — U.S. investment firm Lionheart Capital is close to finalizing a $400 million agreement to acquire a stake in the PetroUrdaneta oil field, according to a Bloomberg report. Bloomberg reported that Miami-based Lionheart “signed a non-binding letter of intent with Swedish firm Keo Capital AB, which holds an interest in PetroUrdaneta.” Transaction […]

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New Stratus Energy negotiates five oil projects in Venezuela

The Canadian company said it is working with U.S. partners to acquire stakes in joint ventures and develop new production agreements following the lifting of U.S. sanctions. The Daily Journal – Canadian company New Stratus Energy (NSE) announced that it is negotiating the acquisition of stakes in joint ventures with Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) […]

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Vitol prepares expansion with a new office in Caracas, Reuters reports

The Daily Journal — Vitol, one of the world’s largest commodity trading companies, has begun preliminary preparations to open an operational office in Venezuela, according to an exclusive report by Reuters. Three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters that the move comes as “global trading houses expand their role in crude exports […]

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Delcy Rodríguez signs new oil regulations to speed up investment in Venezuela

The Daily Journal — Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, signed the Regulations to the Organic Hydrocarbons Law on Wednesday, completing the legal reform launched earlier this year. The new rules could clear the way for agreements that Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (Pdvsa) reached in recent months with oil companies, commodity traders, and oilfield service providers […]

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Venezuela’s oil development will depend on political stability, experts say

EFE — Venezuela’s oil sector development following the opening to foreign investment promoted by the United States will depend largely on political stability in the South American country, several economic experts told EFE on Monday after participating in a forum at the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB). Economist Luis Zambrano Sequín argued that no one […]

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Venezuela’s debt: Technical challenge or paralysis?

Alejandro J. Sucre — Venezuela faces one of the most complex sovereign debt restructuring processes in its history. The scale of the challenge is undeniable: years without international audits, debt instruments scattered across multiple jurisdictions, opaque bilateral debt with China and Russia, and arbitration awards issued by the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes […]

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The Caracas Stock Exchange: A market in a coma; an economy on alert

The Caracas Stock Exchange stagnates in bolivars and bleeds in dollars while the country looks the other way. Julio A. López.— If the stock market is the thermometer of a nation’s economic health, Venezuela has a high fever, and nobody is taking its temperature. The Caracas Stock Exchange (BVC) is experiencing critical stagnation that raises […]

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