WILLEMSTAD–Curaçao and Venezuela are discussing the possibility of the latter country’s state-run oil company PDVSA remaining as the operator of Curaçao’s 335,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Isla refinery, authorities in Willemstad said.
PDVSA’s contract expires at year-end and government-owned refinery holding “Refineria di Kòrsou” has been searching for a business partner to take over. A lack of crude shipments from the troubled neighbouring South American nation has left the facility largely idle.
In a statement, Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath’s office said he and Venezuelan Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo, who also serves as PDVSA’s president, during a meeting at Isla “spoke about the start-up of the refinery in August and the interest of PDVSA to remain as the operator after 2019.”
The holding said last week it would start evaluating up to 10 proposals from energy companies interested in operating the refinery. Its current schedule calls for negotiations to start by October and for a deal to be reached by November. The names of parties that have delivered proposals will not be divulged.
When asked at a press conference whether PDVSA had submitted a formal proposal to continue operating the refinery, Quevedo said the company had “manifested publicly and in a formal manner our desire to continue operations. We have no intention to leave.”
A founding member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Venezuela’s crude oil production has fallen since the United States (US) slapped sanctions on PDVSA in January as part of the Trump administration’s effort to pressure socialist President Nicolas Maduro to leave office amid a hyper-inflationary economic collapse. Venezuela suffered widespread blackouts on Monday in areas across the country, including the capital Caracas.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/89399-pdvsa-no-intention-to-leave-isla-refinery
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