Venezuela has turned its shorter-term focus to improving natural gas projects as increases in crude output may take more time, industry sources said on Monday.
Partners in the gas-rich offshore Cardon IV gas block hope to increase its output soon, joint venture general manager Gonzalo Antonio Carrillo said on Monday at an oil and gas conference organized by the Venezuelan Oil Chamber.
Cardon IV currently produces 580mn cf/d, more than 10pc of Venezuela's total production of 4.4 Bcf/d. But doubling production "in the short term" to 659mn cf/d is a key focus, as well as eventually adding facilities to export the production as LNG, Carillo said.
Partners Spain's Repsol and Italy's Eni in March renewed a joint venture agreement to manage Cardon IV as equal partners.
At the same event, the Venezuelan firm Vepica that partners with Shell said that the two are looking at ways to capture and reinject gas that is being flared in the Punta de Mata region of Monagas state. Venezuela may flare up to half of its production, or roughly 2 Bcf/d, according to industry estimates.
Venezuela may hold an estimated 191 Tcf in gas reserves, with 82pc of that associated with crude, a government official said on Monday. Most of its offshore gas is non-associated with lower liquids content.
Venezuela needs to develop its gas as well as oil industries, vice minister of gas Cindy Rondon said.
"I come from oil, so I have my little oil heart, but we need to realize this [gas] potential," she said.
The government has previous discussed 189 Tcf of gas reserves. Its reserves have not been independently audited in several years.
Back to crude
While US officials have pushed to increase crude production in Venezuela, output is unlikely to go above 1.3mn b/d this year from about 1.1mn b/d now because of the need for more maintenance and investment, sources said.
Of Venezuela's 34,000 oil and gas wells, about 23,000 urgently need work, one source with an oil services company said.
Only five drilling rigs are working in Venezuela now, the source said, but more are being brought from Colombia.
The US has pointed to a gradual recovery in Venezuela, starting with stabilizing the country and ending with democratic elections. The new US charge d'affaires John Barrett in Caracas said on Monday that the "first phase is complete".
Other sectors, such as refining, will likely take more time to recover, sources said. Venezuela was producing 108,000 b/d of gasoline and 53,700 b/d of diesel at the end of 2025, PdV executive Vice President Jovanny Martinez said. Venezuela had 1.3mn b/d of nameplate refining capacity at one point, but only 507,000 b/d is usable now and much of that has supply or other issues.
