It brings an additional cause of concern for global energy security at a time of heightened geopolitical risks in some major producer countries, such as Venezuela, the IEA said. MORE

an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. PDVSA), the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Houston-based CITGO Petroleum Corp. CITGO) has agreed to pay a $737,000 civil penalty and to implement projects to reduce harmful air pollution, resolving alleged violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at its petroleum refining facilities located in Lemont, Ill. and Lake Charles (Westlake), La. MORE

The ‘Fragile Five’ petrostates—Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria and Venezuela—continue to see supply disruption potential, with northern Iraq crude exports at risk due to an escalation of tensions between the (Kurdistan Regional Government), Baghdad and Turkey, while the United States has decertified the 2015 Iran nuclear deal,” U.S. Venezuela. The unfolding implosion of Venezuela almost ensures that more of the country’s oil production will erode, perhaps at a quickening pace. MORE

Canada is the largest supplier of foreign oil to the United States, followed by Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Venezuela. MORE

The study also found that any absence of oil sands on the US Gulf Coast would most likely be replaced by imports of heavy crude oil from Venezuela, which has the same carbon footprint as oilsands crude. the decision on Keystone XL may ultimately boil down to a determination of oil market share between Canada and Venezuela. Venezuela. MORE

State-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. PDVSA) and India’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), last week signed two agreements to boost extra-heavy crude oil production in Venezuela’s Orinoco Oil Belt (FPO) and sell up to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the country. Venezuela will send Reliance between 300,000 and 400,000 barrels per day. Venezuela currently sends 270,000 bpd to India; India’s oil consumption currently amounts to 4.2 MORE

PetroJunín, joint venture formed by PDVSA (60%) and Eni (40%), has started production from the Junín-5 giant heavy oil field, located in the Faja del Orinoco—the area with the largest untapped hydrocarbon reserves in the world, according to Eni. MORE

Renewed disruptions in Libya and smaller drops in Nigeria, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela more than offset higher output in Iran, Iraq and Angola. The International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) Oil Market Report (OMR) for December raised the estimate of global oil demand for 2013 by 130,000 barrels per day (130 kb/d) to 91.2 million barrels per day (mb/d), on stronger-than-expected third-quarter demand growth among OECD countries of 320 kb/d. MORE

crude oil is Venezuela. In early February, Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA imported a 550,000-barrel cargo of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) through its U.S.-based Venezuela started importing foreign crudes in 2014 amid a fall in its own production—buying mostly Angolan and Nigerian light grades. by Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com. MORE

Italy-based oil and gas major Eni and PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela), the state-owned oil and gas corporation of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, signed contracts for the creation of two joint ventures (Empresas Mixtas, Mixed Enterprises). MORE

But you may wish you were in Caracas, Venezuela, where enormous government subsidies cut the price to a ridiculous 6 cents per gallon. What did you pay for gasoline the last time you filled up? If you're in the U.S., probably about $2.70 per gallon. Yep, six pennies. And you may thank your stars you're not in Asmara, Eritrea, where taxes MORE

Rosneft’s President and Chairman of the Management Board Igor Sechin and Venezuelan Oil Minister and PDVSA President Rafael Ramirez, in the presence of the President Vladimir Putin, signed a cooperation agreement for implementation of offshore projects in Venezuela. RIA Novosti quoted President Putin as saying Venezuela and Russia have huge potential for joint investment projects, especially in energy. MORE

In Venezuela, oil production has fallen by more than half in the past 20 years, and declines are set to accelerate. Sharply falling production in Venezuela will offset gains in Iraq, resulting in OPEC crude oil capacity growth of just 750,000 barrels a day by 2023. MORE

Until you see what our counterparts in Venezuela are paying for gas--with the nation''s subsidies, drivers pay a nominal 5 cents per gallon If you have friends in Europe, you might have heard them complaining of gas prices topping $8 per gallon. It''s certainly enough to make you feel better about the average $3.60 a gallon drivers pay in the U.S. MORE

The Venezuelan state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, SA (PdVSA), has signed agreements with two major Indian energy companies, Reliance and OVL, for work in Venezuela’s Orinoco heavy oil belt. OVL currently has stakes in two producing projects in Venezuela; Petro-Carabobo and Petro-Indovenezolana with investments of about US$341 million. MORE

The Venezuela Minister of Petroleum and President of the state-owned company PDVSA, Rafael Ramirez, and a delegation of Eni, composed of the members of the board of directors and led by the Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni and the President Giuseppe Recchi, inaugurated the first pipeline to evacuate oil from the Junin-5 field, located on the Orinoco oil belt. Eni has been present in Venezuela since 1998. MORE

Today on Green Car Reports: We look at what could raise fuel efficiency in the next Ford F-150 pickup truck, we run down electric motorcycle options this year, and cheer the passing of Venezuela''s soon-to-vanish gas price: 5 cents per gallon. All this and more on Green Car Reports. After an incident in which faulty garage wiring may have caused a MORE

Comprising countries such as Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, the United States and Venezuela, the Heavy Oil Working Group will collaborate on clean energy research to reduce the impact of fossil fuel development. The Government of Canada has established a Heavy Oil Working Group. MORE

GM South America includes GM’s existing sales and manufacturing operations in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela as well as sales activities in those countries and Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. General Motors is creating a new regional organization to meet rising customer demand in South America. GM South America will be headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil and will be led by Jaime Ardila, currently president and general manager GM Mercosur. MORE

An additional co-author, Pedro Ramírez of Universidad Central de Venezuela, made important contributions to this study by helping to test the activity of the copper zinc and copper zinc oxide catalysts. MORE

Ford Explorer is built in North America at Chicago Assembly Plant, as well as in Venezuela and now, Russia. MORE

Then we have Venezuela, where production costs hover just over $23 per barrel on average, but where disaster is imminent. For Venezuela, the breakeven point is particularly elusive because the country’s oil is very heavy and very dirty —and thus very expensive to extract and refine. MORE

Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. PDVSA) is moving forward with a series of new heavy oil developments in the Orinoco Oil Belt that will allow a significant increase in production, while requiring the development of massive new infrastructure, Ruben Figuera, director of new developments in the Orinoco Oil Belt, told delegates to the World Heavy Oil Congress 2014 in New Orleans. MORE

Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). State-owned oil companies are retaining their dominant position in the world petroleum industry according to Energy Intelligence ’s annual ranking of the world’s top 50 oil and gas companies, which was published today in Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (PIW). It is the only ranking system that compares private sector firms with national oil companies. MORE

Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, with colleagues from the University of Seville (Spain) and Universidad Central de Venezuela, have discovered a new, highly active catalytic system for converting carbon dioxide to methanol. MORE

Italian oil major Eni made a world class gas discovery at its Perla field, in the shallow water of the Venezuelan offshore, successfully drilling an explorative well in the Perla field, located in the Cardon IV block, in the Gulf of Venezuela. The results of the well exceeded pre-drill expectations, making Perla the largest gas discovery in Venezuela and, potentially, one of the world’s largest natural-gas discoveries in recent years. MORE

The Venezuelan national petroleum company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. According to Oil and Gas Journal (OGJ), Venezuela had 211 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in 2011, the second largest the world. billion barrels in 2010, due to the the inclusion of the massive reserves of extra-heavy oil in Venezuela’s Orinoco belt. MORE

The remaining crude coming from the Alberta oilsands has the same or lower emissions than the heavy crude that the US imports from Venezuela, he noted. In his talk at Georgetown University outlining his climate action plan, President Barack Obama suggested that the controversial Keystone XL pipeline would only be built if the project “ does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution. ”. MORE

Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) and PetroChina recently signed the Project for Development and Establishment of a joint venture to realize the future development of the Nanhai refinery. Venezuela has seen significant upward revisions in its proven oil reserves over the past few years due to the inclusion of massive reserves of extra-heavy oil in the Orinoco Belt. According to OPEC figures, then, Venezuela has now surpassed Saudi Arabia in terms of oil reserves (296.5 MORE

Before the JV can begin operations, a ruling from the National Assembly of Venezuela must be obtained, as well as a resolution from the Oil and Mining Industry Ministry and a corresponding decree from the President of Venezuela. The Orinoco oil belt in Venezuela. MORE

Technip was awarded a “significant” contract to supply its proprietary technology as well as engineering and procurement services for two hydrogen reformers in Venezuela. These 135-million standard cubic feet per day (151-thousand normal cubic meters per hour) reformers are part of the Deep Conversion project being executed by the consortium for Venezuela’s state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), to upgrade the Puerto La Cruz refinery. MORE

Argentina and Venezuela will form a joint venture targeting production of 100,000 barrels of extra-heavy oil per day in the Junin field area of the Orinoco Oil Belt. Venezuela plans to further develop the Orinoco Belt oil resources in the coming years. MORE

Rosneft, the leader of Russia’s petroleum industry and majority owned (75.6%) by the state, and PDVSA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil and gas company, have signed a tentative memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up a joint venture to develop heavy crude oil reserves in Venezuela as part of the Carabobo-2 project. After gaining all the required approvals from the Government and the National Assembly of Venezuela, Rosneft will extend a market rate $1.5 MORE

A former British colony located on the northeast coast of South America, Guyana borders Venezuela, Brazil and Suriname. ExxonMobil Corporation announced positive results from its Ranger-1 exploration well, marking ExxonMobil’s sixth oil discovery offshore Guyana since 2015. MORE

Venezuela state-owned PDVSA and Italy-based Eni are finalizing a planned 60:40 joint venture to produce heavy crude oil in Junin Block 5 in the Orinoco Oil Belt in Venezuela in 2014. In 2009, Venezuela produced about 600,000 barrels per day in joint ventures in the Orinoco Oil Belt. MORE

The amount of crude oil the United States imported from its top five foreign suppliers—Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, and Nigeria—increased slightly during 2011, even though total US crude oil imports fell to their lowest level in 12 years, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, and Nigeria have consistently been America’s five largest crude oil suppliers, although their rankings varied from year to year. MORE

With the huge reduction in its revenues and growing discomfort among its members such as Venezuela, Libya and Nigeria over its current production levels, is OPEC really getting weaker? Venezuela’s Woes. by Gaurav Agnihotri for Oilprice.com. MORE

an indirectly non wholly-owned subsidiary of Wison Engineering Services, was awarded a procurement and construction (PC) contract by Venezuela’s PDVSA Petroleo, S.A.for the site preparation for the Puerto la Cruz oil refinery Deep Conversion Project. The bulk of Venezuela’s oil reserves in the Orinoco Oil Belt is formed by heavy and extra heavy crude oil. This partnership will be also conducive to maintaining and deepening trade and economic cooperation between China and Venezuela. MORE

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Venezuela’s PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela SA) will invest about $14 billion to develop the Junin 10 block in the Orinoco extra heavy oil belt in Venezuela, according to a tweet sent out by Rafael Ramirez, the Venezuelan petroleum minister. In June 2012, Petróleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA) began drilling the first well in the Junin 10 block in cluster JA-16. MORE

Because production levels from Iran, Libya, and Sudan and South Sudan dropped since 2011, China replaced the lost shares of crude oil and other liquids imports from these countries with imports from Oman, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Angola, Venezuela, and Russia. MORE

Crude oil imports from the top five foreign suppliers to the United States—which in 2012 were Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, and Iraq, in that order—accounted for almost 72% of total US net crude oil imports, the highest proportion since 1997, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Venezuela. Venezuela’s state oil company sent more crude to US refineries, which exported more gasoline and other petroleum products back to Venezuela. MORE

Venezuela’s PDVSA signed a $4.0-billion, 8-year loan agreement with China Development Bank (CDB) for boosting production at the Sinovensa heavy oil joint venture in the Orinoco belt from 140,000 barrels per day to 330,000 barrels per day by 2016. Venezuela will also receive two other loans from China: one for $1.5 China and Venezuela are developing Orinoco blocks Junin 1, 4 and 8; Boyaca 4 and MP3. MORE

Venezuela acted as a check on the overall level though, as the crisis-hit country’s production continues to hit fresh lows. Analysts also said Venezuela’s oil sector continues to see power rationing, which is exacerbating the output decline. Oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) crude oil output surged 300,000 barrels per day (b/d) in June, close to an eight-year high of 32.73 MORE