Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, is close to reaching deals to boost Schlumberger’s presence after the oilfield services provider said in April it would reduce operations because of payment problems, PDVSA’s president told Reuters. PDVSA, the exclusive operator of the OPEC country’s vast oilfields, has run up billions of dollars in unpaid bills to service providers as a result of cash-flow problems. U.S. oil services company Halliburton Co in April also said it would begin curtailing activity in Venezuela. Eulogio Del Pino, president of PDVSA, on Friday night said some of Schlumberger’s operations had been reduced but added others were being reinforced. “There are 14 Schlumberger drills that will start operations soon under a different financing scheme,” said Del Pino, without elaborating. “And in the […]