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Sincor under royalty hike seige



By Upstream staff 

Venezuela's foreign-financed Sincor project owes the government around $1 billion in royalties for boosting output above agreed levels, the country's Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez has claimed.

The claims follow a review of revenues from all foreign oil projects operating in the country.

When asked about the hefty sum, Ramirez told Reuters: "That's what we've found. We are not too pleased with what they owe us, we need this money."

Earlier this month, Ramirez said Sincor, which is in partnership with French giant Total with Norway's Statoil and Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, was illegally pumping about 100,000 barrels per day of oil above the levels agreed in the contract.

Ramirez said Sincor will have to pay 30% royalties on the additional production, according to a hydrocarbons law passed in 2001 after the original Sincor deal was signed. The current royalty is 16.6% for projects in the Orinoco extra heavy oil region.

Total and Statoil have claimed that the government approved the project's production levels.

The increase is the latest move by President Hugo Chavez to increase governement control over the energy sector and hike revenues to fund social reforms.

Local oil sector sources said that while Sincor partners may have received government approval to hike output, they did not get direct permission from the National Assembly.

Sincor's royalty increase came after Chavez's announcement, made in March, that Total would start talks for a second deal to double output.


Tuesday, 31 May, 2005, 19:06 GMT  | last updated: Wednesday, 01 June, 2005, 08:21 GMT

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