Venezuela PdVSA Recovers 500,000 B/D Eastern Crude Output
sg.biz.yahoo.com Wednesday March 5, 11:37 PM
CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- Venezuela's state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela SA has almost fully brought back on line 500,000 barrels per day of crude production as storage tanks are being emptied and exports from the Jose port in eastern Venezuela are returning to normal, a loading manager said Wednesday.
"We don't have the problems we had last week, exports at our port are getting back to normal," loading manager Ruben Rodriguez said. Rodriguez said about three million barrels of crude were loaded at the Jose port Tuesday.
Select from the most reliable agencies Last Friday, PdVSA had to shut in 500,000 b/d as storage tanks were filled and exports had to be slowed down. Luis Marin, PdVSA manager for the east, said Friday it would take the company three to four days to get back to normal.
Friday's drop coincided with the latest report of ex-PdVSA staff early Friday that production dropped by about the same amount to 1.13 million b/d from 1.58 million b/d a day earlier. The government maintained Thursday production levels stood at 2.08 million b/d.
The company was hit by a strike that lasted two months and severely affected oil production and exports. The government has fired more than 15,000 employees that participated in the strike.
Earlier this week, the company lifted the force majeure in the eastern region after major shipping agencies and oil companies certified loading conditions at the port.
The company is struggling to reach or go beyond the 2 million b/d production level, analysts have said. After focusing on easy oil fields that don't require much added pressure to get the oil flowing, PdVSA faces difficulties as mature oil fields are more labor and capital intensive and take more time to pump oil.
Experts have said they doubt PdVSA will reach 2.5 million b/d any time soon due to a lack of financial and human resources.
By Fred Pals, Dow Jones Newswires; 58212-5641339; fred.palsdowjones.com;