Toeing the Opec line: Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez
Caracas trims US flows to meet Opec cut
Venezuela is reducing crude shipments to US refineries Chalmette and Sweeney to comply with its Opec output cut of 189,000 barrels per day, to be borne in part by foreign oil companies, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said.
The cut nearly shutters a joint venture with UK-based supermajor BP and slashes output at eight other projects that include foreign investment. The move risks irking oil companies as Venezuela is trying to woo investors into new projects.
State oil company PDVSA warned clients to make provisions for reduced supply, "in particular the refineries Chalmette and Sweeney, because it will be impossible for us to supply them with the usual volumes".
Sweeney and Chalmette are joint ventures between PDVSA and US oil companies ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, which are suing Venezuela for its 2007 takeover of Orinoco belt projects they once ran.
Combined with previous reductions of 46,000 bpd and 129,000 bpd agreed at the September and October Opec meetings, Venezuela's total Opec cuts are now at 364,000 bpd.
The largest part of the 1 January cut went to Petromonagas, a joint venture between PDVSA and BP, which cut 90,000 of around 120,000 bpd. Petroboscan, which includes investment from US supermajor Chevron, cut 30,000 from around 130,000 bpd of output.
Venezuela last year launched bidding for joint ventures in the vast Orinoco belt. Analysts say the frequent Opec cuts, generally passed along to private partners, create concern for investors about the profitability of projects.
Leftist President Hugo Chavez in 2007 took over four multibillion-dollar Orinoco projects in a nationalisation drive, sparking lawsuits by ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips and boosting the perception that Venezuela's oil fields are risky ventures.
Venezuela said last year it had stopped sending crude to Chalmette and was rerouting the oil to China after Chalmette operator ExxonMobil won temporary court orders freezing $12 billion in PDVSA assets.
ExxonMobil said in an e-mail statement it does not generally discuss supply arrangements but said it "expects to be able to meet its contractual commitments", Reuters reported.