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Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA, ) (English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
n state-owned
oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
and
natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as exploration and production of natural gas. Since its founding on 1 January 1976 with the nationalization of the Venezuelan oil industry, PDVSA has dominated the oil industry of Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil
export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...
er. Oil reserves in Venezuela are the largest in the world and the state-owned PDVSA provides the government of Venezuela with substantial funding resources. Following the
Bolivarian Revolution The Bolivarian Revolution is a political process in Venezuela that was led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, the founder of the Fifth Republic Movement and later the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). The Bolivarian Revolution is ...
, PDVSA was mainly used as a vital source of income for the Venezuelan government. Profits were also used to assist the presidency, with funds directed towards allies of the Venezuelan government. With PDVSA focusing on political projects instead of oil production, mechanical and technical statuses deteriorated while employee expertise was removed following thousands of politically motivated firings. Incompetence within the company has led to serious inefficiencies and accidents as well as endemic corruption, at least $11 billion were siphoned off between 2004 and 2015. , minister of planning until in 2014, estimates that $300 billion was simply stolen. As of 2018, thousands of workers abandoned their work for PDVSA, especially after PDVSA was put under military control.


Reserves and capacity

As of 2003, Venezuela had of conventional
oil reserves An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...
according to PDVSA figures, the largest in the
Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the te ...
and making up approximately half the total. This puts Venezuela as fifth in the world in proven reserves of conventional oil. By also including an estimated of tar-like extra heavy crude oil in the Orinoco Belt region, Venezuela claims to hold the largest
hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ...
reserves in the world. Venezuela also has of natural gas reserves. The crude oil PDVSA extracts from the Orinoco is refined into a fuel eponymously named ‘Orimulsion’. PDVSA has a production capacity, including the strategic associations and operating agreements, of per day (600,000 m³). Officials say production is around although most secondary sources such as OPEC and the
EIA Eia or EIA may refer to: Medicine * Enzyme immunoassay * Equine infectious anemia * Exercise-induced anaphylaxis * Exercise-induced asthma * External iliac artery Transport * Edmonton International Airport, in Alberta, Canada * Erbil Internation ...
put Venezuela's output at least lower. During the presidency of Hugo Chávez the organization's
payroll A payroll is the list of employees of some company that is entitled to receive payments as well as other work benefits and the amounts that each should receive. Along with the amounts that each employee should receive for time worked or tasks pe ...
tripled, while
oil production Petroleum is a fossil fuel that can be drawn from beneath the earth's surface. Reservoirs of petroleum was formed through the mixture of plants, algae, and sediments in shallow seas under high pressure. Petroleum is mostly recovered from oil dri ...
fell steeply, a drop of 700,000 barrels per day. Soaring oil prices began in 2002 and peaked in 2008 at $147 per barrel.


Politicization

In 2002, many PDVSA employees went on strike against the policies of Chávez, who in response fired over 19,000 workers from the company. As of 2014, Intevep, the research and development arm of PDVSA, reportedly lost 80% of its workers, severely damaging PDVSA's ability to innovate and compete in the global petroleum market."Brain Haemorrhage; Venezuela's Oil Diaspora." ''The Economist,'' 19 July 2014, p. 31(US). ''World History in Context.'' Accessed 11 Oct. 2018. PDVSA saw stagnant growth in the following era which was defined by a boom in oil prices. Between 2002 and 2012, incapacitating injuries to employees rose from 1.8 per million man hours to 6.2, extremely high compared to 0.6 per million man hours for Pemex in 2012, highlighting the company's struggle to optimize. Several former PDVSA employees moved to
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, where the oil consistency was similar to that of the Orinoco. As a result, the number of Venezuelans in Alberta has risen from 465 in 2001 to 3,860 in 2011. Other PDVSA workers migrated to Colombia, joined Ecopetrol, and were credited with helping the company attain huge profits throughout the 2010s. In 2006, Rafael Ramírez, the energy minister, gave PDVSA workers a choice: Support President Hugo Chávez, or lose their jobs. The minister also said: "PDVSA is red he color identified with Chávez's political party red from top to bottom". Chávez defended Ramírez, saying that public workers should back the "revolution". He added that "PDVSA's workers are with this revolution, and those who aren't should go somewhere else. Go to
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
". In 2012, PDVSA focused in hiring only supporters of the president and PDVSA revenue was used to fund Venezuela's socialist "revolution".


History


1970s: Nationalization

Under the presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez, whose economic plan, "La Gran Venezuela", called for the nationalization of the oil industry, Venezuela officially nationalized its oil industry on 1 January 1976 at the site of Zumaque oilwell 1 (Mene Grande). This was the birth of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA). All foreign oil companies that once did business in Venezuela were replaced by Venezuelan companies, such as Lagoven ( Standard Oil), Maraven (
Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...
), and Llavonen ( Mobil). Each of the former concessionaires was simply substituted by a new 'national' oil company, which maintained the structures and functions of its multi-national corporation (MNC) predecessor. With the 1976 nationalization, each previous multinational operator was converted into an affiliate of PDVSA; these affiliates were grouped into an administrative structure underneath both PDVSA and the Venezuelan Ministry of Energy. With this absorption, PDVSA became the employer of engineers with comprehensive technical training from the old multinational corporations“PDVSA." ''The National of Venezuela'', 3 Feb. 2017. ''General OneFile''. Accessed Oct 25, 2018." and promptly took advantage of their newfound expertise. Within 25 years of nationalization, PDVSA would become the largest company in Latin America and the tenth most profitable in the world. In that 25-year span they went from 18 billion barrels to over 80 billion barrels worth of
oil reserves An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...
, with a similar increase in production capacity.


1980s–1990s: ''Apertura''

In the 1990s, Venezuela opened the company to global cooperation. The opening up of the Venezuelan oil industry, or ''Apertura'', was initialized with a Venezuelan Supreme Court decision which removed older laws prohibiting cooperation with multi-national corporations on Venezuelan land. From 1993 through 1998, PDVSA split extraction rights with multiple multi-national companies in special arrangements called "strategic associations", in effect trading Venezuelan crude oil for the efficiency that came from outside expertise and technology. These "strategic associations" were controversial: Venezuela was able to maximize profits at the cost of lenient taxation on the multinational companies and the loss of control over domestic resources. With Chávez's election in 1998, Venezuela's attention became increasingly focused on complying with OPEC. As oil prices collapsed in the late 1990s, however, keeping the special arrangements while conforming to OPEC regulations became impossible, leading to an end of the ''Apertura'' arrangements for Venezuela. Before the election of Hugo Chávez, PDVSA ran autonomously, making oil decisions based on internal guidance to increase profits. Chávez, once he came to power, started directing PDVSA and effectively turned it into a direct government arm whose profits would be injected into social spending. The result of this was the creation of “
Bolivarian Missions The Bolivarian missions are a series of over thirty social programs implemented under the administration of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and continued by Chávez's successor, Nicolás Maduro. The programs focus on helping the mos ...
”, oil funded social programs targeting poverty, illiteracy, hunger, and more. With the ''Apertura,'' PDVSA many of its managers become active in Venezuelan politics and served as national representatives in economic summits. Chávez continued this trend, further incorporating PDVSA into the government's structure, but made social welfare the priority. During his campaign, Chávez repeatedly said that PDVSA was previously too autonomous and powerful, and that its managers acted subversively to Venezuela. Chávez turned the post-''Apertura'' PDVSA into a political rallying point for his mostly lower-class supporters by associating its ''Apertura'' liberalization policies with the country's ruling groups, energizing his working class supporters against the companies former special arrangements.Wiseman, Colin and Daniel Béland. “The Politics of Institutional Change in Venezuela: Oil Policy During the Presidency of Hugo Chávez.” ''Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies,'' Vol 35, No. 70 (2010), pp. 141-164. ''JSTOR''. Accessed 3 Nov. 2018. In 1998 PDVSA produced 3.4 million barrels of oil a day and had 40,000 employees. By law, it deposited its revenues in the sovereign fund accounts in the
Central Bank of Venezuela The Central Bank of Venezuela ( es, Banco Central de Venezuela, BCV) is the central bank of Venezuela. It maintains a fixed exchange rate for the Venezuelan bolívar and since 1996 is the governing agent of the Venezuelan Clearing House System ...
.


2000s: Social spending

In December 2002 the Venezuelan general strike of 2002-2003 saw many of PDVSA's managers and employees, including the CTV trade union federation, join to pressure Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez to call early elections, and virtually stop oil production for two months. Nearly 19,000 employees, most of them seasoned professionals, were summarily dismissed, and production resumed with employees loyal to the government. The
International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...
(ILO) called on the Venezuelan government to launch "an independent investigation into allegations of detention and torture," surrounding this strike. The company has since formed its own militia, which all employees join on a voluntary basis, to ward off a potential "coup" by the government. It considers itself virtually indistinguishable from the state, its social programs more or less running the country's "socialist revolution." In 2005 PDVSA opened its first office in China, and announced plans to nearly triple its fleet of
oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...
s, to 58. In April and May 2005, PDVSA, per an agreement signed between the governments of Venezuela and Argentina, sent 50 million
tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000  kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s of fuel oil to the latter to alleviate the effects of an
energy crisis An energy crisis or energy shortage is any significant bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In literature, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, in particular, those that supply n ...
due to a shortage of
natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
. In November 2005, PDVSA and its subsidiary in the United States, Citgo, announced an agreement with
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
to provide heating oil to low income families in Boston at a discount of 40% below market price. Similar agreements were later set up with other states and cities in the US Northeast, including New York's
Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
,
Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
,
Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
,
Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
and
Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
. Under the program, Citgo offered a total of around of heating oil at below market prices, equivalent to a discount of between 60 and 80 cents a gallon. On 28 July 2006, credit ratings agency
Moody's Moody's Investors Service, often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its historical name. Moody's Investors Service provides internationa ...
Investor Service said it was removing its standalone ratings on PDVSA because the oil company did not provide adequate operational and financial information. As of 2019, PDVSA had still not filed its 2004 financial results with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that were due in June 2005. During the 2000s, PDVSA made carried out showcase projects in shanty towns and waste removal. In 2008, PDVSA had been Latin America's largest company, but in 2009 it was overtaken by Petrobras and Pemex, according to a ranking of the region's top 500 companies from
Latin Business Chronicle ''Latin Trade Business Intelligence'', formerly ''Latin Business Chronicle'' (''LBC'') is a weekly online journal on Latin American business and technology. Profile ''LBC'', a unit of Latin Trade Group, was first published in 2001. It has around ...
.


2007 expropriations

In 2007, PDVSA bought 82% percent of
Electricidad de Caracas Electricidad de Caracas ( BVCEDC is the integrated electricity company for Caracas, Venezuela and surrounding areas, with more than 1 million connections. It was acquired by AES Corporation in 2000 and sold to the state-owned oil company PDVSA ...
company from
AES Corporation The AES Corporation is an American utility and power generation company. It owns and operates power plants, which it uses to generate and sell electricity to end users and intermediaries like utilities and industrial facilities. AES is headquart ...
as part of a renationalization program. Subsequently, the ownership share rose to 93.62% by December 2008. Assets of ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips were expropriated in 2007 after they declined to restructure their holdings in Venezuela to give PDVSA majority control; Total,
Chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock ...
, Statoil and BP agreed and retained minority shares in their Venezuelan projects. Reaching a settlement with ExxonMobil proved difficult; Venezuela offered book value for ExxonMobil's assets, while ExxonMobil asked for as much as $12 billion. As of January 2012, this and the claims of ConocoPhillips remained before the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. In February 2012, PDVSA paid $255 million to ExxonMobil in compensation for nationalization of ExxonMobil's Venezuelan assets in 2007 and $420 million to be paid beginning in 2012 to US firms Williams Cos Inc. and Exterran Holdings, Inc for natural gas assets nationalized in 2009. During the same time, oil executives and politicians siphoned off at least $11 billion. More than 24 Venezuelans linked to four corruption schemes amassed at least $273 million in 25 Credit Suisse accounts opened between 2004 and 2015.


2010s: crisis in Venezuela

In 2010, PDVSA loaned the government of Antigua $68 million to repurchase all remaining shares of West Indies Oil Company (WIOC) from
Bruce Rappaport Baruch "Bruce" Rappaport (February 15, 1922 – January 8, 2010) was an international banker and financier. He was born in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine to Russian-Jewish emigre parents. Bank of New York-InterMaritime His Bank of New York-InterMari ...
's National Petroleum Ltd. In 2012, PDVSA announced that it would enter into a joint venture agreement with Eni SpA and
Repsol Repsol S.A.
El Nuevo Herald, 2012-05-31
Originally an init ...
in order to initiate a gas production project at the Cardon VI gas block in Venezuela. Production from this joint venture is estimated to reach between 80 and 100 million cubic meters of gas. In February 2014, PDVSA and the Anglo-French oil firm Perenco entered into talks for a $600 million financing deal to boost production at their Petrowarao joint venture. In October 2014, Venezuela imported its first ever ship of oil from Algeria so that they could dilute their oil. Policies enacted by Chávez caused a
crisis in Venezuela The crisis in Venezuela is an ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis that began in Venezuela during the presidency of Hugo Chávez and has worsened in Nicolás Maduro's presidency. It has been marked by hyperinflation, escalating starvation ...
, with the nation's economy deteriorating greatly. Because of the
hyperinflation In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency as t ...
and food shortage, paychecks have become all but valueless, leading to mass resignation from workers.Cunningham, Nick. “Corruption at Venezuela’s State-Run Oil Company Is Pushing the Country Deeper into a Crisis.” ''Business Insider,'' 19 April 2018. Accessed 3 Nov. 2018. By 2017, PDVSA could not even afford to export oil through international waters, which requires safety inspections and cleaning under maritime law, with a fleet of tankers stranded in the
Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
due to the issue. In addition, Nicolás Maduro fired the head of PDVSA and replaced him with Major General Manuel Quevedo, placating the military by giving them control of PDVSA. The developments resulted in a fragmented corporate structure and not enough workers to keep certain rigs operating continuously. By the end of 2013, Venezuela produced 1.2 million barrels of oil per day from the Orinoco, falling short of its target of 1.5 million barrels. The repeated poor performances of PDVSA were heavily linked to Venezuela's current hyperinflation crisis. In order to correct for these shortcomings, Maduro installed more Venezuelan military members in several key PDVSA positions, in an effort to reduce the corruption and inefficiency. Between 1999 and 2017 PDVSA earned an estimated $635 billion in
revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...
and produced an additional $406 billion worth of oil. Production dropped further, to half of its 1998 benchmark. Accountability for the funds was no longer required and , minister of planning until in 2014, estimates that $300 billion was simply stolen. Despite having some of the largest proven oil reserves in the world, in June 2018 PDVSA's actions grew more desperate as they began to import and refine foreign crude oil for the first time in the country's history so they could meet export demands. Oil production had also slowed to levels not seen since the 1950s due to economic and management difficulties. Since 2015, a
US Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
investigation into PDVSA corruption resulted in 12 guilty pleas pertaining to a bribery scheme between PDVSA and its contractors. The scheme involved members within the company who would insure favorable treatment of vendors in exchange for kickbacks. These actions violated the US's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and were classified as conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Suisse secrets Suisse secrets was a February 2022 leak of details of more than CHF 100 billion (roughly US$108.5bn, €95.5bn or £80bn) held in nominee accounts linked to over 30,000 clients of Credit Suisse, the largest ever leak from a major Swiss bank. ...
found seven people had Credit Suisse accounts, which at their maximum held a total of at least 20.1 million Swiss francs. In May 2017, Goldman Sachs purchased $2.8 billion of PDVSA 2022 bonds from the
Central Bank of Venezuela The Central Bank of Venezuela ( es, Banco Central de Venezuela, BCV) is the central bank of Venezuela. It maintains a fixed exchange rate for the Venezuelan bolívar and since 1996 is the governing agent of the Venezuelan Clearing House System ...
. In August 2017, President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
's administration imposed
economic sanctions Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they ma ...
against PDVSA that restricted the industry's access to credit markets. With the prospects of Maduro leaving power in early 2019
confidence Confidence is a state of being clear-headed either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective. Confidence comes from a Latin word 'fidere' which means "to trust"; therefore, having ...
saw an assessable increase in the nation, with tangible financial benefits like an increase in value of bonds for PDVSA, the country's major oil and gas company, which went up 5% in January 2019.


Ownership of Citgo

PDVSA bought 50% of the United States
gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organi ...
brand Citgo from Southland Corporation in 1986 and the remaining half in 1990. With full ownership of Citgo, PDVSA at its peak controlled 10% of the US domestic oil market, creating a lucrative export chain from Venezuelan soil to American consumers, as the two largest buyers of Venezuelan petroleum are the United States and China, respectively. In 2013, despite dwindling performance, PDVSA was able to add Russia's Rosneft as an extraction partner, anticipating to extract 2.1 million barrels of petroleum per day. With the onset of the Crisis in Venezuela, the country borrowed 1.5 billion dollars from Russia, offering 49.9% of PDVSA's share in Citgo as collateral. On 30 October 2018 PDVSA paid $949 million on its Citgo backed bond to investors, a payment many analysts thought was impossible for the company given its recent liquidity struggles.Scigliuzzo, Davide. “PDVSA Bewilders Bond Analysts by Making $949 Million Payments.” Bloomberg, 30 Oct. 2018. Accessed 3 Nov. 2018. The payment meant that PDVSA would continue to own Citgo, but that failure to pay would result in Citgo transferring ownership to one of PDVSA's creditors. Losing Citgo would be disastrous for PDVSA, as they would lose the key terminal of their export chain to the US and the chemical additives necessary for oil refinery that Citgo produces. The loss would wreak additional havoc on Venezuela's economy, drying up the revenue stream that provides 90% of the government's hard-currency earnings.Whelan, Jeanne and Anthony Faiola. “Venezuela’s Foreign Creditors Try to Lay Claim to Citgo.” ''The Washington Post,'' 17 October 2018. Accessed 3 Nov. 2018. The next payment was due in April 2019; at the time, PDVSA was completely insolvent, with the rest of their $60 billion debt.“Update-1-Investors Receiving Payment on PDVSA 2020 Bond-Sources.” ''Reuters,'' 30 October 2018. Accessed 3 Nov. 2018.
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
mining firm Crystallex is another creditor of PDVSA's Citgo holdings and could potentially end up in control should PDVSA default in 2020. Crystallex, through a US court case, has already received an undisclosed amount of Citgo shares in compensation for Venezuela's 2008 nationalization of their mines. A separate Canadian mining firm, Rusoro, was also pursuing $1.28 billion in repayment for the prior nationalization of its assets, which it is pursuing through the US justice system until PDVSA begins making payments.


Safety

There have been worsening safety problems since 2003, culminating in a gas leak at the
Paraguaná Refinery Complex The Paraguaná Refinery Complex ( es, Centro de Refinación de Paraguaná) is a crude oil refinery complex in Venezuela. It is considered the world's third largest refinery complex, just after Jamnagar Refinery (India) and (South Korea). The Pa ...
in August 2012 which caused an explosion, killing 48 people and damaging 1600 homes. A lightning strike caused a fire at the refinery in September 2012.


Organization


Board of Directors

* Nelson Ferrer – Vice President of Exploration and Production and Internal Director * Guillermo Blanco – Vice President of Refining and Internal Director * Fernando de Quintal Rodríguez – Vice President of Commerce and Supply and Internal Director * Nemrod Contreras – Vice President of Gas and Internal Director * Iris Medina – Vice President of Finance and Internal Director * Marcos Rojas Marchena – Vice President of International Affairs and Internal Director * Miguel Quintana C – Vice President of Planning and Engineering and Internal Director * Yurbis Gómez, Ricardo León Sabala, Wils Rangel, Simón Zerpa, Ricardo Menéndez and
Tareck El Aissami Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah (; ar, طارق زيدان العيسمي مداح; born 12 November 1974) is a Venezuelan politician serving as Minister of Industries and National Production since 14 June 2018, and as Minister of Petroleum sin ...
– External Directors


Presidents of PDVSA

* Asdrúbal Chávez (April 2020 – present) * Nelson Martínez (August 2017 – November 2017) BS in Chemistry, MS in Physical Chemistry University of Poitiers, France. Ph.D in Chemistry University of Reading, UK. * (September 2014 – August 2017)
Exploration geophysics Exploration geophysics is an applied branch of geophysics and economic geology, which uses physical methods, such as seismic, gravitational, magnetic, electrical and electromagnetic at the surface of the Earth to measure the physical properties of ...
, Universidad Central de Venezuela * Rafael Ramírez (November 2004September 2014) Minister of Energy and Oil (2005), M.Sc. Energy policyUCV, B.Sc.
Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...
ULA. *
Alí Rodríguez Araque Alí Rodríguez Araque (9 September 1937 – 19 November 2018) was a Venezuelan politician, lawyer, and diplomat. He was the leader of the political party Patria Para Todos ("Fatherland for All") and occupied various positions in the governmen ...
(April 2002 – October 2004) Minister of Energy (1999), Secretary General OPEC (2001), Lic. Economics - UCV. * Gastón Parra Luzardo (February 2002 - April 2002) Academic Vice-
Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
LUZ Luz ( ''Lūz'') is the name of two places in the Bible. Mentioned in Genesis Luz is the ancient name of a royal Canaanite city, connected with Bethel (Genesis 28:19; 35:6). It is debated among scholarsRashi on 28:17 whether Luz and Bethel repres ...
(1980–1984), Dean of the School of Social Sciences – LUZ (1972–1975). Lic. Economics - LUZ. * Guaicaipuro Lameda Montero (October 2000''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...
'', 27 October 2000, "Chavez Taps Into Military to Fill Top Civilian Posts; Venezuelan Leans on Familiar Source"
– February 2002)
Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...
of the Venezuelan Army and Electrical Engineering, ( University of the Pacific), M.Sc. economic planning . * Héctor Ciavaldini (August 1999 - October 2000). * Roberto Mandini (February 1999 - August 1999). * Luis Giusti (March 1994 – February 1999) M.Sc. Petroleum EngineeringTU, B.Sc Petroleum Engineering -
LUZ Luz ( ''Lūz'') is the name of two places in the Bible. Mentioned in Genesis Luz is the ancient name of a royal Canaanite city, connected with Bethel (Genesis 28:19; 35:6). It is debated among scholarsRashi on 28:17 whether Luz and Bethel repres ...
* Gustavo Roosen (March 1992 – March 1994) Minister of Education (1989), M.A. Comparative Law (NYU), B.A. Law – UCAB. * Andres Sosa Pietri (March 1990 – March 1992). * Juan Chacín Guzmán (October 1986 – March 1990). * Brigido R. Natera (February 1984 – October 1986) B.S. Geology, Universidad Central de Venezuela, M.B.A. Stanford University, 1968. * Humberto Calderón Berti (March 1983 – February 1984) Minister of Energy (1979–1982). * Rafael Alfonzo Ravard (January 1976 – March 1983).
General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...
of the Venezuelan Army, civil engineering degree at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...


Overseas assets

*
Citgo Petroleum Corporation Citgo Petroleum Corporation (or Citgo, stylized as CITGO) is a United States–based refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. Headquartered in the Energy Corridor area ...
, United States – Citgo is 100% owned by PDVSA. * Nynäs Petroleum, Sweden – PDVSA owns a 50% stake with Finland's Neste Oil Oyj holding the other 50%. *BOPEC, Bonaire petroleum corporation 100% owned by PDVSA. *Isla refinery, Curaçao – PDVSA leases the Isla Refinery on the island, though it intends to end its lease at the end of 2019. The refinery has been operating at below capacity for at least two years, due to maintenance problems and difficulty supplying crude oil as third parties attempt to legally seize oil shipments in lieu of payment by Venezuela. *PDVSA acquired a minority stake in the Jamaican state-owned oil refinery in 2006. PDVSA has offices in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, China, Cuba, Spain and Netherlands.


Former

* Hovensa LLC refinery, United States Virgin Islands – - closed in 2015. Hovensa was jointly owned by PDVSA and Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp. * Bahamas Oil Refining Company (BORCO), Bahamas – PDVSA was the sole owner of this oil storage terminal in the Caribbean until April 2008. The new owners were Royal Vopak (20%) and First Reserve Corporation (80%). It is doing business as Vopak Terminal Bahamas. They in turn sold the facility to Buckeye Partners in 2011. * Ruhr Oel, Germany – PDVSA was a 50% owner of Ruhr Oel GmbH, the other half belonging to BP's German unit Aral AG. PDVSA sold its part to Russia's Rosneft in October 2010.


See also

* Corporación Trebol Gas C.A. *
History of the Venezuelan oil industry Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves at an estimated 304 billion barrels (18% of global reserves) as of 2020. The country was one of the world's largest exporters of oil, but the oil industry saw a significant decline since it ...
* Petrocaribe * Nervis Villalobos


Notes


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Petroleos De Venezuela Energy companies established in 1976 Oil and gas companies of Venezuela Government-owned companies of Venezuela Venezuelan brands
Ven Ven may refer to: Places * Ven, Heeze-Leende, a hamlet in the Netherlands * Ven (Sweden), an island * Ven, Tajikistan, a town * VEN or Venezuela Other uses * von Economo neurons, also called ''spindle neurons'' * '' Vên'', an EP by Eluveiti ...
Non-renewable resource companies established in 1976 Venezuelan companies established in 1976 Companies based in Maracaibo Holding companies of Venezuela Multinational companies headquartered in Venezuela