Conoco aims to seize PDVSA oil inventories in Curacao: sources

[thackney]

Conoco aims to seize PDVSA oil inventories in Curacao: sources
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-conocophillips-pdvsa/conoco-aims-to-seize-pdvsa-oil-inventories-in-curacao-sources-idUSKBN1I8217
MAY 7, 2018

 ConocoPhillips is trying to seize PDVSA’s [PDVSA.UL] oil assets at the 335,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Isla refinery in Curacao, which would expand its control over the Venezuelan state-run company’s barrels for export, according to sources close to the matter.

Under court orders to enforce a $2 billion arbitration award by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the U.S. oil firm last week temporarily seized about 4 million barrels of crude that PDVSA had stored on the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Eustatius and took control of a terminal on Bonaire, prompting PDVSA to move several oil tankers away from the region.

Conoco’s actions could affect PDVSA’s ability to export some 400,000 bpd shipped from the Caribbean, or about a third of its total exports, according to Reuters calculations based on the state firm’s internal reports.

The legal maneuvers further imperil PDVSA’s declining oil revenue and Venezuela’s economy, which is in deep recession with shortages of medicine and food.

OPEC-member Venezuela is almost completely dependent upon crude exports, which slid 29 percent to 1.19 million bpd in the first quarter, according to Thomson Reuters Trade Flows data. Its refineries ran at just 31 percent of capacity from January through March....

[thackney]

Curaçao, island in the Caribbean Sea and a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is situated some 37 miles (60 km) north of the coast of Venezuela. Although physiographically part of the South American continental shelf, Curaçao and neighbouring islands off the northern coast of South America are usually considered to constitute the southwestern arc of the Lesser Antilles.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Curacao

[Suppressed]

Too bad they can't seize the refinery and operate it better.  Evidently, a very beautiful island paradise is imperiled by poor operations, from what I've been told.

[thackney]

Too bad they can't seize the refinery and operate it better.  Evidently, a very beautiful island paradise is imperiled by poor operations, from what I've been told.

I believe they are trying to get the refinery as well.

Exclusive: Conoco moves to take over Venezuelan PDVSA's Caribbean assets - sources
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-conocophillips-pdvsa-assets/conoco-moves-to-take-over-venezuelan-pdvsas-caribbean-assets-sources-idUSKBN1I70RA
MAY 6, 2018

U.S. oil firm ConocoPhillips has moved to take Caribbean assets of Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA to enforce a $2 billion arbitration award over a decade-oil nationalization of its projects in the South American country, according to three sources familiar with its actions.

The U.S. firm targeted facilities on the islands of Curacao, Bonaire and St. Eustatius that accounted for about a quarter of Venezuela’s oil exports last year. The three play key roles in processing, storing and blending PDVSA’s oil for export....

[Suppressed]

I believe they are trying to get the refinery as well.

Good.  Thanks, @thackney...that will make my colleague very happy.

[thackney]

Good.  Thanks, @thackney...that will make my colleague very happy.

If it happens...

There is a lot of debt associated with PDVSA.  I'm not sure how one would separate individual assets to one creditors.