State-owned Petróleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA) and its foreign joint venture partners have restarted extra-heavy crude production at Petrolera Sinovensa, Petromonagas, and Petropiar projects, the company’s report showed. The three JVs, which extract oil from the country’s Orinoco Belt, stopped production in August.
Petrolera Sinovensa (PDVSA 60% CNPC 40%) pumped 15,000 bpd of crude oil, Petromonagas (PDVSA 60% Russia 40%) production averaged 37,000 bpd, while Petropiar (PDVSA 70% Chevron 30%) output stood at 50,000 bpd, the document showed. In the first half of September, these projects produced 212,000 bpd of crude, up 15% in the same period of August.
The Orinoco Belt is estimated to contain reserves of 220 billion barrels of mostly acidic extra heavy crudes with high heavy metal content. The area is divided into four blocks: Ayacucho, Carabobo, Boyaca, and Junin. PDVSA’s latest report showed Ayacucho’s production was the highest at 124,000 bpd as of September 15, followed by Carabobo (75,000 bpd), Boyaca (10,000 bpd), and Junin (3,000 bpd).
According to PDVSA’s report, Venezuela’s overall oil production averaged 335,000 bpd in August, increasing by 25,000 bpd from July. Domestic production of light crudes, which are needed to upgrade the extra-heavy grades, stood at an average of 125,000 bpd in August, falling from 220,000 in March.
