Curacao seizes PdV oil terminal in Bonaire

Curacao's state-owned RdK has seized Venezuela's 10mn bl Bopec oil terminal on Bonaire over unpaid debt.

The March 17 seizure, made public over the weekend, strips PdV of one of its last overseas assets. It was not immediately clear how much oil is still stored on the site.

According to a video message sent to around 100 Bopec employees on 20 March, Refineria di Korsou (RdK) took over the shares of Propernyn BV, a PdV-owned company in the Netherlands that owns the terminal.

"With this action, RdK seeks to obligate PDVSA owned Refineria Isla Curacao to comply with payments long due," according to a summary of the video message obtained by Argus. "If despite of this action PDVSA still does not comply, RdK will seek Dutch court ruling to sell all Propernyn BV shares, which could lead to public auction of the facilities of BOPEC."

The Bopec terminal had already been under scrutiny by Dutch authorities because of a lack of maintenance and repairs. In October 2019, a joint Dutch inspection team of environment, transport, water, occupational health and fire authorities prohibited Bopec from using both jetties for loading and unloading, after concluding that all improvement projects had been halted. Fuel oil still stored at the site was allowed to be trucked to Contour Global power station for local generation on the island.

"BOPEC will have one chance to demonstrate during the upcoming inspection in April 2020 that the planned improvement projects can be implemented in a short term and in a safe manner," the Environmental and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) told Argus in January 2020.

ILT did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the planned inspection, which is unlikely to be carried out as scheduled because of virus-related travel restrictions.

The Bopec seizure is the latest of PdV's Dutch Caribbean travails.

RdK owns a 335,000 b/d refinery in Curacao that had been operated by PdV until its long-term lease expired at the end of 2019. Curacao has a preliminary agreement with German refiner and commodities trader Klesch to take over the Curacao operation, a deal that the island government had been hoping would be signed in April. The deal is now in limbo after the oil price crash this month.

Curacao and Bonaire are part of the Dutch Caribbean where PdV's once bustling near-shore logistical network served to store, transship and refine its crude.

Another Dutch Caribbean island, Aruba, has been working to sever all ties with PdV Holding, a US subsidiary of the Venezuelan company that is controlled by a parallel interim government run by Venezuela's US-backed political opposition. Talks to finalize the takeover of a mothballed refinery and terminal on Aruba are also up in the air. The Netherlands is part of the EU that also recognizes the opposition administration as Venezuela's legitimate governing authority.

PdV did not reply to a request for comment, but it routinely blames US sanctions for undermining its national oil industry and blocking its ability to invest and operate. Venezuela itself is ill-equipped to cope with the coronavirus, and has called for the US to lift sanctions to help tackle the outbreak.

By Patricia Garip