Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA, Spanish pronunciation: [peðe'?esa]) (Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil, as well as exploration and production of natural gas. Since its founding on 1 January 1976 with the nationalization of the Venezuelan oil industry, PDVSA has dominated the oil industry of Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter.
Oil reserves in Venezuela are the largest in the world, and the state-owned PDVSA provides the government of Venezuela with substantial funding resources. Between 2004 and 2010 PDVSA contributed $61.4 billion to the government's social development projects. Around half of this went directly to various Bolivarian Missions, with the remainder distributed via the National Development Fund. Incompetence within the company has led to serious inefficiencies and accidents, as well as endemic corruption. As a result, thousands of workers have abandoned their work for PDVSA, especially after the PDVSA was put under military control.
Video PDVSA
Reserves and capacity
Venezuela has 77.5 billion barrels (1.232×1010 m3) of conventional oil reserves according to PDVSA figures, the largest in the Western Hemisphere and making up approximately half the total. This puts Venezuela as fifth in the world in proven reserves of conventional oil. By also including an estimated 235 billion barrels (3.74×1010 m3) of tar-like extra heavy crude oil in the Orinoco Belt region, Venezuela claims to hold the largest hydrocarbon reserves in the world. Venezuela also has 150 trillion cubic feet (4.2×1012 m3) of natural gas reserves.
PDVSA has a production capacity, including the strategic associations and operating agreements, of 4 million barrels (640,000 m3) per day (600,000 m³). Officials say production is around 3.3 million barrels per day (520,000 m3/d) although most secondary sources such as OPEC and the EIA put Venezuela's output at least 500,000 barrels per day (79,000 m3/d) lower.
The organization's payroll tripled during the presidency of Hugo Chavez. Oil production fell steeply, a drop of 700,000 barrels per day. Soaring oil prices beginning in 2002 and peaked in 2008 at $147 per barrel.
Maps PDVSA
Politicization
In 2006, Rafael Ramírez, the energy minister, gave PDVSA workers a choice: Support President Hugo Chávez, or lose their jobs. The minister also said: "PDVSA is red [the color identified with Chávez's political party], red from top to bottom". Chávez defended Ramírez, saying that public workers should back the "revolution". He added that "PDVSA's workers are with this revolution, and those who aren't should go somewhere else. Go to Miami".
PDVSA continues to hire only supporters of the president, and PDVSA revenue is used to fund political projects.
History
Nationalization 1976
Under the presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez, whose economic plan, "La Gran Venezuela", called for the nationalization of the oil industry, Venezuela officially nationalized its oil industry on 1 January 1976 at the site of Zumaque oilwell 1 (Mene Grande). This was the birth of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA). All foreign oil companies that once did business in Venezuela were replaced by Venezuelan companies. Each of the former concessionaires was simply substituted by a new 'national' oil company, which maintained the structures and functions of its multi-national corporation (MNC)-predecessor.
1980s/1990s
PDVSA bought 50% of the United States gasoline brand Citgo from Southland Corporation in 1986 and the remaining half in 1990.
In 1998 PDVSA produced 3.4 million barrels of oil a day and had 40,000 employees. By law it deposited its revenues in the sovereign fund accounts in Venezuela's Central Bank. Between 1999 and 2017 PDVSA earned an estimated $635 billion in revenue and produced an additional $406 billion worth of oil. Production dropped further, to half of its 1998 benchmark. Accountability for the funds was no longer required and Jorge Giordani, minister of planning until in 2014, estimates that $300 billion was simply stolen.
2000s
In December 2002 the Venezuelan general strike of 2002-2003 saw many of PDVSA's managers and employees (including the CTV trade union federation) lock out workers to pressure Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez to call early elections, and virtually stop oil production for two months. Nearly 19,000 employees, most of them seasoned professionals, were summarily dismissed, and production resumed with employees loyal to the elected government.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) called on the Venezuelan government to launch "an independent investigation into allegations of detention and torture", surrounding this strike.[1] The strike caused substantial macroeconomic damage, pushing unemployment up by 5% to a peak of over 20% in March 2003.[2] The company has since formed its own militia, which all employees join on a voluntary basis, to ward off a potential "coup" by the government. It considers itself virtually indistinguishable from the state, its social programs more or less running the country's "socialist revolution".
In 2005 PDVSA opened its first office in China, and announced plans to nearly triple its fleet of oil tankers, to 58.[3]
In April and May 2005, PDVSA, per an agreement signed between the governments of Venezuela and Argentina, sent 50 million tonnes of fuel oil to the latter to alleviate the effects of an energy crisis due to a shortage of natural gas.
In November 2005, PDVSA and its subsidiary in the US, Citgo, announced an agreement with Massachusetts to provide heating oil to low income families in Boston at a discount of 40% below market price.[4] Similar agreements were later set up with other states and cities in the US Northeast including New York's Bronx, Maine, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Delaware. Under the program, Citgo offered a total of around 50 million US gallons (190,000 m3) of heating oil at below market prices, equivalent to a discount of between 60 and 80 cents a gallon.
In February 2006 PDVSA completed ISO 9001:2000 process certification for its distribution system.[5]
On 28 July 2006, credit ratings agency Moody's Investor Service said it was removing its standalone ratings on PDVSA because the oil company does not provide adequate operational and financial information. PDVSA has still not filed its 2004 financial results with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that were due in June 2005.
During the 2000s, PDVSA has made contributions to the protection of the environment through showcase projects in shanty towns and waste removal.
In 2008, PDVSA had been Latin America's largest company, but in the next year was overtaken by Petrobas and Pemex, according to a ranking of the region's top 500 companies from Latin Business Chronicle.
Nationalization 2007
Assets of ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips were expropriated in 2007 after they declined to restructure their holdings in Venezuela to give PDVSA majority control, Total, Chevron, Statoil and BP agreed and retained minority shares in their Venezuelan projects. Reaching a settlement with ExxonMobil has proven difficult; Venezuela offered book value for ExxonMobil's assets and ExxonMobil asked for as much as $12 billion. This matter and others including the claims of ConocoPhillips remain before the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
PDVSA paid compensation for assets it nationalized, including $255 million paid to ExxonMobil on February 15, 2012 in compensation for nationalization of ExxonMobil's Venezuelan assets in 2007 and $420 million to be paid beginning in 2012 to U.S. firms Williams Cos Inc. and Exterran Holdings, Inc. for natural gas assets nationalized in 2009.
Also in 2007, PDVSA bought 82.14% percent of Electricidad de Caracas company from AES Corporation as part of a renationalization program. Subsequently, the ownership share rose to 93.62% (December 2008).
2010s
In 2010, PDVSA loaned the government of Antigua $68 million to repurchase all remaining shares of West Indies Oil Company (WIOC) from Bruce Rappaport's National Petroleum Ltd.
In 2012, PDVSA announced that it would enter into a joint venture agreement with Eni SpA and Repsol in order to initiate a gas production project at the Cardon VI gas block in Venezuela. Production from this joint venture is estimated to reach between 80-100 million cubic meters of gas. In February 2014, PDVSA and the Anglo-French oil firm Perenco entered into talks for a $600 million financing deal to boost production at their Petrowarao joint venture. In October 2014, Venezuela imported its first ever ship of oil from Algeria so that they could dilute their oil.
Following the death of Chávez in 2013, policies he enacted caused a crisis in Bolivarian Venezuela, with the nation's economy deteriorating greatly. By 2017, PDVSA could not even afford to export oil through international water, which requires safety inspections and cleaning under maritime law, with a fleet of tankers stranded in the Caribbean Sea due to the issue. In May 2017, Goldman Sachs purchased $2.8 billion of PdVSA 2022 bonds from the Central Bank of Venezuela.
Despite having some of the largest proven oil reserves in the world, in June 2018 PDVSA's actions grew more desperate as they began to import and refine foreign crude oil for the first time in the country's history so they could meet export demands. Oil production had also slowed to levels not seen since the 1950s due to economic and management difficulties.
Safety
There have been worsening safety problems since 2003, culminating in a gas leak at the Paraguaná Refinery Complex in August 2012 which caused an explosion, killing 48 people and damaging 1600 homes. Another major fire broke out at the El Palito refinery in September 2012.
Presidents of PDVSA
- Nelson Martínez (August 2017 - Present) BS in Chemistry, MS in Physical Chemistry University of Poitiers, France. Ph.D in Chemistry University of Reading, UK.
- Eulogio Del Pino (September 2014 - August 2017) Exploration geophysics, Universidad Central de Venezuela
- Rafael Ramírez (November 2004 - September 2014) Minister of Energy and Oil (2005), M.Sc. Energy policy - UCV, B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering - ULA.
- Alí Rodríguez Araque (April 2002 - October 2004) Minister of Energy (1999), Secretary General OPEC (2001), Lic. Economics - UCV.
- Gastón Parra Luzardo (February 2002 - April 2002) Academic Vice-Rector - LUZ (1980-1984), Dean of the School of Social Sciences - LUZ (1972-1975). Lic. Economics - LUZ.
- Guaicaipuro Lameda Montero (October 2000 - February 2002) Brigadier General of the Venezuelan Army and Electrical Engineering, (University of the Pacific), M.Sc. economic planning .
- Héctor Ciavaldini (August 1999 - October 2000).
- Roberto Mandini (February 1999 - August 1999).
- Luis Giusti (March 1994 - February 1999) M.Sc. Petroleum Engineering - TU, B.Sc Petroleum Engineering - LUZ
- Gustavo Roosen (March 1992 - March 1994) Minister of Education (1989), M.A. Comparative Law (NYU), B.A. Law - UCAB.
- Andres Sosa Pietri (March 1990 - March 1992).
- Juan Chacín Guzmán (October 1986 - March 1990).
- Brigido R. Natera (February 1984 - October 1986) B.S. Geology, Universidad Central de Venezuela, M.B.A. Stanford University, 1968.
- Humberto Calderón Berti (March 1983 - February 1984) Minister of Energy (1979-1982).
- Rafael Alfonzo Ravard (January 1976 - March 1983). General of the Venezuelan Army, Civil engineering degree -Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Overseas assets
- Citgo Petroleum Corporation, USA - Citgo is 100% owned by PDVSA.
- Nynäs Petroleum, Sweden - PDVSA owns a 50% stake with Finland's Neste Oil Oyj holding the other 50%.
- Bahamas Oil Refining Company (BORCO), Bahamas - PDVSA was the sole owner of this oil storage terminal in the Caribbean until April 2008. The new owners were Royal Vopak (20%) and First Reserve Corporation (80%). It is doing business as Vopak Terminal Bahamas. They in turn sold the facility to Buckeye Partners in 2011.
- Hovensa LLC refinery, US Virgin Islands - Hovensa is jointly owned by PDVSA and Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp.
- Isla refinery, Curaçao - PDVSA leases the Isla refinery on the island.
- BOPEC, Bonaire petroleum corporation 100% owned by PDVSA.
- Ruhr Oel, Germany - PDVSA was a 50% owner of Ruhr Oel GmbH, the other half belonging to BP's German unit Aral AG. PDVSA sold its part to Russia's Rosneft on October 2010.
- PDVSA acquired a minority stake in the Jamaican state-owned oil refinery in 2006.
PDVSA also has offices in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, China, Cuba, Spain and Netherlands.
See also
- Petrocaribe
- History of Venezuelan Oil Industry
- Corporación Trebol Gas C.A.
Notes
External links
- PDVSA - Petróleos de Venezuela
Source of article : Wikipedia
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