PdV completes oil transfer from troubled FSO

Venezuela's state-owned PdV says its PetroSucre joint venture has offloaded all of the crude that was stored aboard the Nabarima floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) and is moving to restart crude production in the Gulf of Paria.

The 1.3mn bl Nabarima FSO started listing around August 2020, raising alarms over a possible oil spill in the shallow gulf that separates Venezuela from Trinidad and Tobago.

PdV's minority partner, Italy's Eni, had offered to help transfer the crude last year after receiving US assurances that it would not violate sanctions.

Relying on local contractors, PdV decided to offload the 23°API crude on its own in a drawn-out process that was closely guarded by the Venezuelan military. The crude was transferred onto a barge and then onto a shuttle tanker into PdV storage tanks at Guaraguao and Jose.

Eni did not participate in the transfer or marketing of the crude.

On Twitter, PetroSucre president Jose Romero said operations since December 2020 to offload 1.15mn bl of crude stored on the Nabarima, a double-hull VLCC built in 2005, were completed this week.

PetroSucre is now preparing to restart the Corocoro field. PdV holds a 74pc stake in PetroSucre, Eni 26pc.

A PetroSucre official tells Argus that production will restart within a month with initial output of some 10,000 b/d slated to rise up to 25,000 b/d by the end of June.