Venezuela
News
January 25, 2021
The cat-and-mouse games that avoid detection and sanctions include ship-to-ship transfers, shell companies and silenced satellite signals. But there’s another aspect to the dodge. It involves “doping” the oil with chemical additives and changing its name in the paperwork so it can be sold as a wholly different crude without a trace of its Venezuelan roots.
News
January 14, 2021
The island nation of Palau says a tanker that recently loaded Venezuelan crude was using a false signal to disguise its identity, potentially putting the Pacific country in the crosshairs of U.S. sanctions.
News
January 05, 2021
Since taking over for Hugo Chavez in 2013, Nicolas Maduro has resisted efforts to force him out, presiding over a precipitous deterioration of the oil-rich country.
News
January 01, 2021
Venezuela has managed to defy sweeping U.S. sanctions against state-owned producer PDVSA and keep shipping some crude abroad, mainly to China. But Washington has intensified the crackdown on companies that break the restrictions, and PDVSA has struggled to sell its barrels in Asia.
News
December 06, 2019
A subsidiary of Rosneft has taken over some contract discussions with local service providers in Venezuela, stepping in for PDVSA on joint projects with the state-owned oil company, according to people familiar with the matter.
News
November 14, 2019
The practice of oil tankers turning off their location signals has increased in the past month, according to shipping data, after the U.S. went after a Chinese-owned shipping company it said was moving crude for sanctioned Iran.
News
November 12, 2019
Repsol SA is looking as far away as Western Canada for oil for its European refineries amid dwindling supplies from Mexico and Venezuela.
News
October 22, 2019
The Trump administration extended Chevron’s waiver to operate in Venezuela, allowing the second-largest U.S. oil explorer to keep its toehold in the crisis-stricken Latin American nation as U.S. sanctions severely restrict crude exports.
News
October 18, 2019
The Trump administration is considering an extension of Chevron’s waiver to operate in Venezuela, albeit with even greater limitations, according to people familiar with the matter.
News
October 10, 2019
Brazil’s efforts to uncover the origin of oil washing up on more than 130 beaches along its pristine northeastern coastline are pointing to Venezuela as the likely culprit.
News
September 13, 2019
Exports of sanction-hit Venezuelan oil now face a new concern: a shortage of vessels willing to transport crude produced by the regime of President Nicolas Maduro.
News
September 06, 2019
A Chinese oil contractor halted work on an expansion project in Venezuela because it hasn’t been paid, underscoring the difficulties for the Nicolas Maduro regime even at energy ventures backed by allies.
News
September 03, 2019
Chevron appears to be laying the groundwork to leave Venezuela in the event that the U.S. declines to extend a waiver allowing it to continue operating in the country.
News
August 16, 2019
China’s biggest energy company is backing away from direct purchases of Venezuelan crude as the Trump administration tightens sanctions against the South American nation.
News
August 16, 2019
U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela have inadvertently increased demand for a Russian brand of crude oil, boosting revenues for the nation’s exporters.
News
March 01, 2018
Crude production from OPEC countries fell to a 10-month low in February, mainly due to maintenance at a field in the United Arab Emirates and continued output declines in Venezuela.
News
February 27, 2018
The U.S. is leaning toward imposing oil-sector sanctions on Venezuela before the country holds April 22 elections that opposition leaders have vowed to boycott, according to a senior State Department official.
News
February 26, 2018
The outlook for declining oil production in Venezuela may get grimmer if the U.S. bans supply of a key commodity used to help Venezuelan crude flow from oilfields to the coast.
News
February 22, 2018
At 6:40 a.m., Pablo Ruiz squats at the gate of a decaying refinery in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, steeling himself for eight Sisyphean hours of brushing anti-rust paint onto pipes under a burning sun. For breakfast, the 55-year-old drank corn-flour water.
News
February 19, 2018
Former Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez, already accused of corruption by his own country, now faces a lawsuit from a Houston energy firm alleging that it lost almost half a billion dollars over its refusal to pay bribes for contracts.
News
February 15, 2018
Oil refineries in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico are buying the most crude from the UK North Sea in more than seven years as they scramble to replace lost supplies from Venezuela.
