American Chevron Corp. has resumed drilling at an untapped deposit in Venezuela in a bid to boost output as Washington threatens to tighten its grip on the sanctions-hit country. Bloomberg reports this.
Petroindependencia project
According to sources familiar with the situation, work on the Petroindependencia field in the Orinoco Belt, the world’s largest reserves of extra-heavy oil, has been underway since mid-February 2024. The area represents Chevron’s best and perhaps only near-term opportunity to increase production in Venezuela as the company’s two other fields are about to decline. The work is being carried out in accordance with a license issued to Chevron by the US Treasury in 2022 and as part of the company’s plan to drill 30 new wells by 2025. Total production from the three joint ventures between Chevron and state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) is expected to increase by 35% to 250 thousand barrels per day, which will lead to an increase in supplies to the United States.
The 2nd stage of drilling work is scheduled to begin in July 2024. Unlike other subsoil areas managed by Chevron, the field is underdeveloped. According to PDVSA forecasts, production at the plateau will be 400 thousand barrels per day.
Export of Venezuelan oil
The total volume of Venezuelan oil exports to the United States in February 2024 reached almost 200 thousand barrels per day. This is the highest figure since November 2022. However, this is only half of the volume that Venezuela exported to the United States before sanctions were imposed in January 2019. On March 5, 2024, it became known that Venezuela, for the third month in a row, exports less oil than neighboring Guyana – 604 thousand barrels. versus 621 thousand barrels
It was previously reported that in order to increase production in Venezuela, large drilling rigs are required, which the country simply does not have, and American oil service companies in Venezuela are still limited to a US license, which only allows them to maintain existing assets in the country, and to import new equipment or Contracting with PDVSA requires additional approvals from the authorities. It was noted that if the problem can be solved, Chevron will place drilling rigs at the Petroindependencia, Petropiar (also in the Orinoco oil belt) and Petroboscan projects near Lake Maracaibo in the western region of the country.
According to Bloomberg, Chevron has resumed cooperation with oil services company Weatherford International Plc.
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