PdV Gas president Rosa Mota was detained last night by Venezuela´s military intelligence agency Sebin as part of a new internal purge aimed at ensuring political loyalty.
Mota was arrested by a Sebin counterintelligence unit at the state-owned gas company´s Venadria Tower headquarters in Caracas, and ordered to appear before a terrorism judge, according to a Sebin report obtained by Argus. She is currently in the counterintelligence agency DGCIM in the Venezuelan capital.
It is not clear why she was taken in, but PdV officials describe a politically motivated "witchhunt" among senior managers. The purge is unfolding as PdV chief executive and oil minister Manuel Quevedo is out of the country attending an IEA-IEF-Opec Symposium on Energy Outlooks in Riyadh.
Mota previously worked in crude production in northern Monagas state.
PdV Gas is a subsidiary of Venezuela´s national oil company PdV, which is the target of US oil sanctions since 28 January.
Despite Venezuela´s plentiful natural gas reserves, PdV has historically focused on oil. But gas is widely seen as a future anchor of growth. European companies Repsol and Eni were among the early movers with the Cardon 4 joint venture that operates the offshore Perla gas field.
Last year PdV signed a preliminary agreement with Shell to rein in extensive gas flaring in Monagas. A final agreement was not reached because PdV has not been able to pay Shell, a PdV official said. Shell has not commented.
According to a 6 February statement from PdV, PdV gas officials including Mota and her boss, board vice president for gas Nemrod Contreras, met with Shell officials led by Shell Venezuela president Luis Prado to advance the accord, which is aimed at capturing 350mn cf/d of flared gas.
Shell told Argus in August 2018 that it signed a "Flaring Reduction Technical Service Agreement" with PdV "to develop natural gas flaring reduction projects in the oil fields in North of Monagas State. Shell will implement opportunities that would allow for the capture and efficient use of the natural gas that is currently being flared or vented. Shell expects these alternatives will reduce emissions and increase the availability of gas for domestic use. The project will be funded by PDVSA."
The agreement was signed in tandem with a separate preliminary agreement signed by PdV, Shell and Trinidad and Tobago´s state-owned gas company NGC to develop Venezuela´s offshore Dragon field. Production would be shipped by pipeline to Shell´s Hibiscus platform off Trinidad, where it would be used across the country´s industries, including the Atlantic liquefaction complex.
The turmoil inside PdV coincides with deepening political uncertainty across Venezuela. The US and more than 50 other countries no longer recognize Nicolas Maduro as president, and recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president instead.
Tensions are running high on Venezuela´s border with Colombia, where more than 400 members of Venezuela´s military and police have fled since 23 February. On that day Venezuela´s opposition tried to bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela through Colombia and Brazil, but most of the trucks were blocked and others attacked or burned. Clashes continue on the Venezuelan side of the lengthy border with Colombia.
Venezuela´s GDP is forecast to collapse by around 25pc in 2019, with hyperinflation amounting to some 200pc per month.
