Chevron will take operational control of a plant in Venezuela this week

Chevron Corp Formally assumes operational control of a major oil processing facility Venezuela During a joint visit to the site by representatives of the company and the regime this week, according to a person familiar with the project.

Venezuela’s Minister of Petroleum, Tarek Elisami, and head of Chevron’s operations in the country, Xavier La Rosa, will visit the PetroPierre developer at the Jose petrochemical complex near Barcelona in northeastern Venezuela on Dec. 7, the person said. Chevron will assume operational control after the review, the person said, requesting anonymity because no official announcement has been made.

Spokesmen for Chevron and the regime did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Chevron will use the facility to process crude oil such as tar from fields in Venezuela US Treasury Department Last month. The first shipment of 1 million barrels is expected to take place later this month.

The California-based driller is under a license and series of agreements signed by Chevron with the Venezuelan regime. It will resume control of operations, finance and marketing in joint ventures with state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA. Chevron, the last major international company still operating in Venezuela, has the ability to increase production to about 200,000 barrels per day in a year from joint ventures.

Exported by Venezuela 619,300 barrels per day Sales rose 16% from October, according to documents and Refinitiv data, amid November crude and fuel exports to Europe and the restart of oil refineries.

Exports from the OPEC member have averaged 620,000 bpd so far this year, slightly below 2021, but are expected to rise in the coming months after Chevron Corp was granted a US license as part of a strategy to ease sanctions against Venezuela.

Italian IAnother shareholder, state-owned PDVSA, sent two shipments to Spain in November to repay a loan for 1.85 million barrels of diluted Venezuelan crude, where it will be refined by Repsol.

Exports also benefited Restart of one of the Orinoco Belt crude upgrades of PDVSA and Chevron’s Petropier project. The neighboring Petrolera Sinovensa project, operated by PDVSA and China’s CNPC, also resumed crude blending operations. Both suffered from dysfunction and lack of dilution to operate.

A total of 24 shipments carrying crude oil and refined products and 224,000 metric tons Methanol and pet coke left Venezuelan waters last month, according to PDVSA’s internal export data and schedules.

The November figures were 16% higher than the previous month’s exports, but they were nearly 3% lower than the same month last year and well below August’s record of 813,000 bpd.

Most November exports They headed for China After going through ship-to-ship transfer hubs, especially Malaysia. PDVSA shipped about 38,000 bpd of crude, fuel oil and blends. Gasoline to CubaDown from 52,000 bpd in October.

A Super tanker owned by Iran A vessel operated by a third party arrived in Venezuela in November carrying a cargo of Venezuelan heavy crude oil and fuel oil for Iran’s state-owned company Naftran Intertrade Co (NICO). The documents show.

Another Iranian-flagged tanker in Venezuela, the Huge, is expected to return to NICO this month with fuel oil as part of an oil exchange with PDVSA, according to the documents.

(With information from Bloomberg and Reuters)

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