From Bloomberg Oil prices moved higher as analysts predicted the mounting political crisis in Venezuela could take a chunk out of global crude flows. Futures rose as much as 1.5 percent in New York. Venezuela, owner of the world’s biggest oil reserves, could see crude production drop by a thirdthis year, analysts at Fitch Solutions said Friday. The United Nations Security Council,
From Bloomberg With the U.S. considering sanctions against Venezuelan crude, there’s little doubt that Gulf Coast refiners would look north to Canada to fill the gap. The question is whether Canada can get them enough oil to slake their demand. Declining Venezuelan shipments have been underpinning demand for heavy Canadian crude for more than a year, even at the South American nation’s own U.S.
From Stratfor Venezuela is heading toward a chaotic, violent transition of power. The government is fighting a losing battle against declining oil output and its own voracious political elites. Low oil prices, high government spending and extreme corruption destroyed Venezuela’s energy sector — the country’s sole source of export revenue. Without vast sums of oil money to line their pockets
From Reuters U.S. refiners are bidding up prices for scarce types of crude oil needed for their most sophisticated plants as the United States reconsiders harsher sanctions on Venezuela that could further reduce imports of the country’s oil. Trump administration officials in recent days met with U.S. oil company executives to lay out potential actions in response to the Jan.
From The Wall Street Journal The U.S. is evaluating whether to impose tougher sanctions against Venezuela’s military and vital oil industry, a senior Trump administration official said Monday, as it seeks to ratchet up pressure on authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro to hold free and fair elections. The Trump administration is considering a range of measures including curtailing the flow of
From Reuters Seismic research vessels hired by Exxon Mobil to explore for oil off Guyana’s coast have not returned to the site of a December incident with Venezuela’s navy, but they may in the future, Guyana’s foreign minister said on Thursday. Guyana, with no history of oil production, has become the focus of intense interest since Exxon announced the discovery
From Bloomberg Venezuela will remap its Caribbean oil and gas prospects in a move that could further stoke a century-long border dispute with Guyana and collide with Exxon Mobil Corp.’s venture in the region, people with knowledge of the plan said. The seismic survey is planned for the coming months and will include an eastern area of Venezuela that borders
From Bloomberg With brand-name drillers unwilling to jump in, Venezuela is resorting to a newly formed U.S. company for help in shoring up production from its crude reserves, the largest in the world. Schlumberger Ltd. and Halliburton Co., the world’s biggest oil-service providers, have announced over $2 billion in combined write-offs for unpaid bills in Venezuela since the second quarter of 2017.
From The Wall Street Journal An oil exploration ship run by Exxon Mobil Corp. halted work and fled after being intercepted by Venezuela’s Navy, rekindling a border dispute between the two nations just as a separate political crisis threatened Guyana’s government. Owned by Norway’s Petroleum Geo-Services and bearing a Bahamian flag, the seismic-survey vessel was stopped by a Venezuelan Navy ship Saturday
From Reuters As Venezuela collapses, one little-known U.S. investment fund is poised to win big from litigation against its socialist government: Tenor Capital Management. Since 2012, the New York firm has invested $76 million in Canadian mining firm Crystallex International Corp, largely to fund a lawsuit being waged against Venezuela for expropriating a gold mine. Now, Tenor stands to claim
From Bloomberg After flooding the U.S. market in recent months, Saudi Arabia plans to slash exports to the world’s largest oil market in the coming weeks, in an effort to dampen visible build-ups in crude inventories. U.S. refineries given notice to expect lower shipments from Saudi in January; cut could test 30-year low American-based oil refiners have been told to
From Reuters Venezuela is facing the possible unraveling of a pair of billion-dollar settlements aimed at protecting the cash-strapped country’s U.S.-based Citgo Petroleum Corp from seizure by creditors. A lawyer for Canadian mining company Crystallex International Corp said on Tuesday Venezuela had breached the $1.4 billion November agreement that resolved a long-running fight over an expropriated gold mine. Separately, Venezuela’s
