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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Supertanker Arrives With Venezuela’s First Imported Crude Oil |
| 2014-10-27 |
I would imagine that purchasing crude from Algeria or Russia for dilutant would drive up the cost of refining Venezuelan crude in a market where prices have fallen 25%. Hat tip: gCaptain. Oil tanker Carabobo, bringing Venezuela’s first import of crude oil, arrived late on Saturday at the Jose port, where it is scheduled to unload up to 2 million barrels of Algerian Saharan Blend to be used as a diluent for Venezuela’s extra heavy crude, according to Reuters tanker tracking data. Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA has ordered four deliveries of foreign light crudes in recent weeks, including Algerian Saharan Blend and Russia’s Urals, to replace purchases of the costly heavy naphtha it had been using as diluent. After signing a supply contract with Algeria’s state-run Sonatrach, Saharan Blend supplies will arrive at Venezuelan ports while Russian shipments are scheduled to arrive during November to Isla refinery, operated by PDVSA in the Caribbean island of Curacao. The very large crude carrier (VLCC) Carabobo has not started the unloading process, according to the data. A portion of the Algerian crude purchases will be mixed with Orinoco belt’s extra heavy oil while a 270,000 barrel per day (bpd) crude upgrader plant operated by PDVSA, Norway’s Statoil and France’s Total is halted for maintenance starting in early November, the state-run oil company said. |
| Posted by:Alaska Paul |
| #6 Shipman---the substitution of light crude is ostensibly is to save money from buying naptha. But I wonder what the total cost of each is, when you do the dilutions, add transportation costs, etc etc. Who knows what kind of arithmetic is used in the evaluation of alternatives in Venezuela? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2014-10-27 18:54 |
| #5 They were using Naptha, not sure why they changed diludents. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-10-27 18:37 |
| #4 Venezuela's Orinoco oil is viscous and has to be refined in special refineries. I guess cutting the oil with sweeter crude is intended as a workaround while the crude upgraders are down for maintenance. |
| Posted by: One Bandersnatch 2014-10-27 15:50 |
| #3 No, Commodore Frank. Saudis will import Venezuelan Orinoco heavy crude to thicken up their light sweet crude, heh. All kidding aside, Venezuela's reserves are supposed to exceed Saudi Arabia's. However with the more difficult extraction and refining issues of Venezuela's heavy crude, coupled with China's involvement in Venezuela's oil industry as a rescuer of the country for a righteous fee and cheap oil(China importing 640,000 bbl/day of which 200,000 goes to servicing the debt), I would say that the Venezuelan people and govt are well and truly screwed. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2014-10-27 15:34 |
| #2 If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand. - Milton Friedman ...of course there would be a surplus of |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-10-27 15:26 |
| #1 next up? Sand for Saudi Arabia |
| Posted by: Frank G 2014-10-27 13:40 |