Sanctions delay PdV oil dock repair: ministry

The south dock at Venezuelan state-owned PdV's Jose oil export terminal will likely remain out of service until mid-November because US financial sanctions have delayed repairs, the energy ministry said.

The terminal's south dock has been shut since Greek-flagged tanker Meganisi collided with the structure on 25-26 August. The incident occurred during a docking operation to unload a cargo of imported naphtha earmarked for diluting with Orinoco extra-heavy crudes.

PdV initially said the dock would restart loading/offloading operations by 1 October. But the ministry said today that repairs could take six more weeks to complete because US financial sanctions have blocked PdV's efforts to secure financing to cover imports of replacement parts unavailable in Venezuela.

"International banks aren't accepting PdV's money and won't extend credit to PdV because of the US sanctions," a ministry official said.

PdV's Jose terminal, consisting of three docks (East, West and South) and two monobuoys with a combined nameplate crude handling capacity of 1.5mn b/d integrated with PdV's 600,000 b/d Orinoco upgrader and 130,000 b/d crude blending complex on the coast of Anzoategui state, handles over 70pc of Venezuela's crude exports and crude/product imports.

The dock's shutdown reduced PdV's exports in September by up to 160,000 b/d, to about 1.11mn b/d from 1.27mn b/d the previous month, the ministry said.

Contractual deliveries to major clients including Russian state-controlled Rosneft, Chevron and Valero were disrupted, hurting PdV's cash flow last month in spite of higher average export prices that as of 28 September averaged over $73/bl compared with about $60/bl as of first-half August, the ministry said.

Until south dock repairs are completed PdV will continue diverting tankers to the nearby smaller Guaraguao terminal in Puerto La Cruz, the ministry said.

But infrastructure and water depth limitations at Guaraguao restrict maximum individual tanker cargoes to 500,000 bl compared with loads of up to 1mn bl that the Jose is able to accommodate.