Venezuela: Output slashed
Venezuela toes Opec line
Venezuela will cut output at joint ventures with Chevron, BP and Anglo Dutch Shell to help Opec restrain oil supply and bolster prices.
The South American nation must trim 189,000 barrels under a deal reached today in Algeria, said Eulogio del Pino, who manages state-owned PDVSA’s joint ventures.
The cuts represent 5.9% of Venezuela’s total output, del Pino said today in a text-message response to questions from Bloomberg.
It’s the second time Venezuela has imposed output reductions on its private-sector partners in recent months to comply with lower Opec quotas. Oil producers in Venezuela already slashed 126,000 barrels from daily output, del Pino said.
“We’re ready for a big output cut,” Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said. “The goal is to slow the fall in prices.”
The latest round of reductions focus on ventures that produce heavy oil, del Pino said. The partnerships he named include those with ONGC Videsh, China National Petroleum Corporation, Harvest Natural Resources and Anadarko Petroleum.
PDVSA will cut its own production in the western part of the country, he said.
Opec today cut members’ quotas by 2.46 million barrels per day in an attempt to force oil prices to rally to about $75 a barrel.