Venezuela Freezes 19 Oil, Gas Production-Sharing Deals

Venezuela’s oil ministry has suspended 19 oil production-sharing contracts with private companies signed under the administration of President Nicolas Maduro, four sources with knowledge of the move told Marianna Parraga of Reuters.

State oil giant PDVSA is selling the crude produced under the contracts while they remain suspended, they added. (Photo: Energy Analytics Institute) 

The suspension has had no impact on the country’s oil and gas output so far, the sources said.

State oil giant PDVSA is selling the crude produced under the contracts while they remain suspended, they added.

Caracas and Washington will review the contracts and may recommend revoking some of them, the sources said. Venezuela and the US are reviewing the credentials of the companies that signed the deals, the sources added.

Some of the companies are little known, and the contracts were signed while Venezuela was under US sanctions.

The US detained Maduro in January and took control of Venezuela’s oil exports and sales. Since then, the US Treasury Department has issued licenses allowing some companies to trade Venezuelan oil and operate in the country’s oil and gas sectors.

Venezuela’s National Assembly passed a reform to the country’s hydrocarbon law in late January to facilitate foreign investment in the dilapidated oil industry. Under the revised law, the government has six months to review existing contracts.