Exclusive: Venezuela leans on foreign partners for oil to feed its refineries - sources

[thackney]

Exclusive: Venezuela leans on foreign partners for oil to feed its refineries - sources
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-oil-jointventure-exclusive/exclusive-venezuela-leans-on-foreign-partners-for-oil-to-feed-its-refineries-sources-idUSKBN1DL1Y1
NOVEMBER 21, 2017

Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA is siphoning oil from its cash-paying joint ventures with foreign firms to feed its domestic refineries, two sources close to the matter told Reuters, at a time when late debt payments have triggered defaults.

PDVSA asked its Petropiar joint venture with Chevron Corp (CVX.N) to turn over as much as 45 percent of the oil it planned to export in November with no immediate reimbursement, one of the sources said this month.

PDVSA did not respond to a request for comment. Chevron declined to comment.

The joint ventures export upgraded crude to buyers around the globe and the diversion cuts into the main source of the government’s revenue. One likely reason for the shift: to deal with intermittent fuel shortages because of the poor condition of its refineries, which in some cases are working at a third of capacity.

The lack of these exports add to the nation’s cash crunch...

[thackney]

As Venezuela pumps below OPEC target, oil rivals begin filling gap
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-opec-venezuela-quotas/as-venezuela-pumps-below-opec-target-oil-rivals-begin-filling-gap-idUSKBN1DK0CH
NOVEMBER 19, 2017

As Venezuela’s dilapidated energy sector struggles to pump enough crude oil to meet the country’s OPEC output target, rival producers have started to plug the gap, according to OPEC and industry sources and U.S. government data.

The South American country’s oil output hit a 28-year low in October as state-owned oil giant PDVSA struggled to find the funds to drill wells, maintain oilfields and keep pipelines and ports working.

Venezuela's oil production, which has been falling by about 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) per month since last year, is on track to fall by at least 250,000 bpd in 2017, according to numbers reported to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as U.S. sanctions and a lack of capital hobble operations.

Some OPEC members expect the fall to accelerate in 2018, reaching at least 300,000 bpd, OPEC sources said. At a recent internal OPEC meeting, Venezuelan officials were asked to give a clearer picture of the country’s declining output....

[IsailedawayfromFR]

It's really sad on the state of affairs in Venezuela.

The country is blessed with some of the most abundant hydrocarbons in the world.  The only thing holding it back is the failure of Communism to extract it beneficially.