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Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.
Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. is the Venezuelan state-owned petroleum company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil, as well as exploration and production of natural gas. PDVSA dominates the oil industry of Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter.
PDVSA purchased 50% of the United States gasoline brand Citgo from Southland Corporation in 1986 and the remainder in 1990.
Venezuela has 77.5 billion barrels of conventional oil reserves according to PDVSA figures, the largest in the Western Hemisphere and making up approximately half the total. This puts Venezuela as fifth in the world in proven reserves of conventional oil. By also including an estimated 235 billion barrels of tar-like extra heavy crude oil in the Orinoco Belt region, Venezuela claims to hold the largest hydrocarbon reserves in the world. Venezuela also has 150 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves.
PDVSA has a production capacity, including the strategic associations and operating agreements, of 4 million barrels per day . Officials say production is around 3.3 million barrels a day although most secondary sources such as OPEC and the EIA put Venezuela's output at least 500,000 barrels a day lower.
PDVSA has performed many significant contributions to the protection of the environment through strategic associations with environmental remediation technology providors such as Separation and Recovery Systems Recupertec (SRS) among other companies in the sector to perform the critical cleanup of refining oil wastes and production oil wastes. PDVSA and SRS have been one of the most important collaborators of environmental protection in Venezuela.
In December 2002 many of PDVSA's managers and employees (including the CTV trade union federation) locked out workers to pressure Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez to call early elections, and virtually stopped oil production for 2 months. The government fired 19,000 employees and reestablished production with employees loyal to the Chavez government. The International Labour Organization (ILO) called on the Venezuelan government to launch "an independent investigation into allegations of detention and torture", surrounding this strike. [*] The strike caused substantial macroeconomic damage, pushing unemployment up by 5% to a peak of over 20% in March 2003. [*]
In 2005 PDVSA opened its first office in China, and announced plans to nearly triple its fleet of oil tankers, to 58. [*]
In April and May 2005 PDVSA, per an agreement signed between the governments of Venezuela and Argentina, sent 50 million tonnes of fuel oil to the latter, in order to alleviate the effects of an energy crisis due to a shortage of natural gas.
In November 2005, PDVSA and its subsidiary in the U.S., Citgo, announced an agreement with Massachusetts to provide heating oil to low income families in Boston at a discount of 40% below market price. [*] Similar agreements were later set up with other states and cities in the US Northeast including New York's Bronx, Maine, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Delaware. Under the program, Citgo offered a total of around 50 million gallons of heating oil at below market prices, equivalent to a discount of between 60 and 80 cents a gallon.
In February 2006 PDVSA completed ISO 9001:2000 process certification for its distribution system. [*]
On July 28, 2006, credit ratings agency Moody's Investor Service said it was removing its standalone ratings on PDVSA because the oil company does not provide adequate operational and financial information. PDVSA has still not filed its 2004 financial results with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that were due in June 2005.
In 2007, PDVSA bought 82.14% percent of Electricidad de Caracas company from AES Corporation as part of a renationalization program.
Presidents of PDVSA
Rafael Ramirez (2004 - current) Minister of Energy and Oil (2005), M.Sc. Energy policy - UCV, B.Sc Mechanical Engineering - ULA.
Ali Rodriguez Araque (2002 - 2004) Minister of Energy (1999), Secretary General OPEC (2001), Lic. Economics - UCV.
Gaston Parra Luzardo (2002) Academic Vice-Rector - LUZ (1980-1984), Dean of the School of Social Sciences - LUZ (1972-1975). Lic. Economics - LUZ.
Guaicaipuro Lameda (2001) Brigadier General of the Venezuelan Army.
Hector Ciavaldini (2000).
Roberto Mandini (1999).
Luis Giusti (1994 -1998) M.Sc. Petroleum Engineering - UT, B.Sc Petroleum Engineering - LUZ
Gustavo Roosen (1992 -1994) Minister of Education (1989), M.A. Comparative Law - New York University (NYU), B.A. Law - UCAB.
Andres Sosa Pietri (1990 - 1992).
Humberto Calderon Berti (1983-1984) Minister of Energy (1979-1982).
Overseas assets
Citgo Petroleum Corporation, USA - Citgo is 100% owned by PDVSA.
Ruhr Oel, Germany - PDVSA holds 50% of Ruhr Oel, the other half belonging to BP's German unit Aral AG.
Nynas Petroleum, Sweden - PDVSA owns a 50% stake with Finland's Neste Oil Oyj holding the other 50%.
Bahamas Oil Refining Company (BORCO), Bahamas - PDVSA is the sole owner of this oil storage terminal in the Caribbean.
Hovensa LLC refinery, US Virgin Islands - Hovensa is jointly owned by PDVSA and Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp.
Isla refinery, Curacao - PDVSA leases the Isla refinery in the Netherlands Antilles.
PDVSA also has offices in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, China, Cuba, Spain and Netherlands.
Alleged politicization
Venezuela's energy minister and head of PDVSA, Rafael Ramirez, gained attention when he told state oil workers to back President Hugo Chavez or leave their jobs. He also said: "PDVSA is red, red from top to bottom (...) - PDVSA es roja, rojita de arriba a abajo (...)" (Red being the color identified with Chavez's party). The opposition said it is illegal for the government to exhort workers to secure Chavez's re-election in the 3 December 2006 elections.
Chavez defended Ramirez and said workers should back up the "revolution". He also said that "PDVSA's workers are with this revolution, and those who aren't should go somewhere else. Go to Miami". Furthermore, Chavez stated that Ramirez should give the same speech to oil workers 100 times a day.
See also
Petrocaribe
External links
PDVSA - Petroleos de Venezuela
Yahoo! - Petroleos de Venezuela SA Company Profile
Interview with PDVSA President Ali Rodriguez, Jul 24, 2004
Ramirez takes over as PDVSA's president-Venezuela
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.
