After years of struggling to negotiate with Venezuela, Harvest Natural Resources exits the country Houston-based Harvest Natural Resources (ticker: HNR) has closed its deal with private equity firm CT Energy Holding SRL for HNR’s Venezuela assets. The closing of the deal marks the end of more than two years in which the company has been trying unsuccessfully to divest its
Poorer OPEC nations reeling hardest from oil price slide OPEC’s biannual meeting has come and gone, but the group’s objective remains the same: defend market share. While some talks may be underway to set a new production ceiling of 32-32.5 MMBOPD, OPEC’s poorer members have to simply grin and bear the consequences of low oil prices. Despite oil’s move in
Venezuela sells off $1.7 billion in gold as the country struggles to stay afloat; 1,600 % inflation on the horizon in 2017 The situation in Venezuela has gotten so desperate that you can no longer buy a Coke-a-Cola due to a lack of sugar cane in the country. This news comes shortly on the tail of the closing of Polar
Layoffs from the largest private company in Venezuela reach 10,000 Many of the smaller OPEC nations have been hit hard by the current commodity price environment, but none seems to be struggling more than Venezuela. Ranked as the country with the world’s largest oil reserves at almost 300 billion barrels (the CIA World Factbook), with 95% of its export revenues coming from oil,
Wildfires burning out of control in Fort McMurray Fort McMurray, the heart of much of Canada’s heavy oil sands production, has been evacuated due to a wildfire burning out of control in and around the city. The evacuations have forced the oil sands operations in the surrounding area to lower production as works and their families flee to safety. Operators
Venezuela on track for the largest sovereign debt default in history OPEC’s members, along with other major oil producers like Russia and the U.S., have all been feeling the pain of lower oil prices, but perhaps none more than Venezuela. The country relies on oil exports for “96 percent of its hard currency and 40-45 percent of the federal budget,”
Maduro blames ‘economic war’ for loss of majority government For the first time in 17 years, Venezuela’s opposition party claimed a majority position in the National Assembly. Results from the election, held Sunday, indicate that the Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mesa de la Unidad Democratica, or MUD) Party claimed 99 seats, compared to just 46 for the United Social Party of
“We aren’t going to go back to a cartel … That time has passed” – U.A.E. Minister Al Mazrouei Just over a year after deciding to change its focus to defending market share rather than oil prices, OPEC members left their semi-annual meeting in Vienna on December 4 grim-faced, according to reports. After out-producing its self-imposed ceiling for 18 months,
President Maduro to the world’s oil producers: “The minimum, minimum price should be $70” Oil producing countries have been negatively affected by the dramatic fall in the price of oil since the middle of last year, and some have been hit harder than others. Venezuela, in particular, is one OPEC member that is feeling the pressure. Why? Because 95% of
Talking to Putin Tomorrow to Figure Out How to Stabilize Oil Prices Venezuela has struck a deal with China, its most generous creditor in recent years, for $5 billion designed to increase oil production in the coming months. Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro confirmed the agreement via a television broadcast on the evening of September 1 but was not specific on
Offshore production in Perla Field expected to reach 1,200 MMcf/d Italy’s Eni (ticker: E) announced that it has started production on the first phase of its offshore operations in the Perla gas field, approximately 50 kilometers (about 31 miles) offshore in the Gulf of Venezuela. The field is the largest offshore field in Latin American and the first to be
Investment is expected to double current production Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that Russia’s top oil producer, Rosneft (ticker: RNFTF), agreed to invest around $14 billion in the South American OPEC country’s oil and gas sector. Maduro met with Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and Venezuela state-owned PDVSA’s president, Eulogio del Pino, Wednesday, reports Reuters. “We had a great meeting and
