<article><p class="lead">Chevron's PetroBoscan joint venture with Venezuela's state-owned PdV that supports asphalt production has been offline since at least June, sources with both companies in Caracas and Maracaibo told <i>Argus</i> today.</p><p>"Production stopped on 8 June," a PdV source who asked not to be identified said.</p><p>The operation in Zulia state was one of two joint ventures between the companies — the other is the heavy crude PetroPiar project — that had still been operating in recent years after US sanctions began against Venezuela.</p><p>PetroBoscan produced about 22,000 b/d prior to closure, analysts with Gas Energy in Caracas said. PetroBoscan being down contributed to the Occidente division's production dropping this year from around 150,000 b/d to an estimated 98,500 b/d in August, according to Gas Energy.</p><p>The stoppage comes after the government of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro told US officials in March that it would increase oil production to help with the energy emergency triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February.</p><p>Designed to process<b></b>more than 100,000 b/d of heavy crude mostly used for the manufacturing of asphalt, Boscan produced up to 80,000 b/d until US sanctions and a host of structural issues — including a lack of transportation — forced it offline, analysts say. There is no schedule for it to restart, a Chevron<b></b>source said, arguing that the company needs to work out issues with PdV's trade and supplies department.</p><p>The project's storage capacity is full, according to the Chevron source and an analyst in Maracaibo.</p><p>Chevron's corporate office said it is unable to comment.</p><p>PetroBoscan's production must be carried on ships with heated cargo holds to make sure that the paraffin-heavy crude does not congeal, but few shipping companies want to risk US sanctions in place against PdV, the company's top officials and entities such as the central bank of Venezuela.</p><p>There are "very high inventories and no ships for that extra heavy crude for asphalt," according to one analyst. "PdV trade and supplies is the one commercializing that crude," which complicates transportation contracts because of the sanctions<b>.</b></p><p class="bylines">By Carlos Camacho</p></article>
