Category: Venezuela

WASHINGTON—The directors of one of Spain’s leading construction companies were delighted to land an appointment with Rafael Ramírez, the president of Petróleos de Venezuela, to talk about their plans to bid on a $1.5 billion electric-power project for the Venezuelan state oil giant. But when they showed up at the JW Marriott Hotel in Caracas, it was Mr. Ramírez’s cousin, Diego Salazar, who received them in the presidential suite, say two people who attended the 2006 meeting. Mr. Salazar got right to the point, they say: The Spaniards would have to pay at least $150 million in kickbacks to be in the running. “If not,” Mr. Salazar told the businessmen, according to one person, “you should return to the airport.” The executives didn’t bite. But plenty of other vendors were willing to play along on PdVSA projects, say people who worked with the company before Mr. Ramírez’s departure last […]

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Venezuela has set a target price of $40/barrel for its export basket of crude and products for 2016, Minister of Economy, Finance and Public Bank Rodolfo Marco Torres said Tuesday at a presentation of the national budget for next year. The 2016 target price compares to the $60/b target the Venezuelan government put in place for the country’s 2015 budget. "Excess oil supply has resulted in the sustained fall in oil prices," Torres said. "Considering the trends in the international oil market, the 2016 budget has been estimated [at] an average export price of the Venezuelan oil basket [of] $40/b," Torres said. Venezuela has seen its income from oil exports fall by 50% due to the sharp decline in global oil prices. Article continues below… Oilgram News brings you fast-breaking global petroleum and gas news on and including: Industry players, upstream and downstream markets, refineries, midstream transportation and financial […]

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Venezuela not only has the funds needed to make payments to bond investors due this month and next, but intends to keep making timely payments on its obligations, Finance Minister Rodolfo Marco Torres said Tuesday. “The government will continue faithfully honoring national and international debt commitments, demonstrating the solidity and reliability of the Venezuelan state,” he said during his presentation of the 2016 budget and debt bills to the National Assembly broadcast on state television. Venezuela has the roughly $3.5 billion ready to make the principal and interest payments due on its Petrobono 2015 this month and the PDVSA 2017 bond next month, Marco Torres, who is also economy vice president, said. Venezuela’s debt composition at year-end 2014 stood at 68 percent domestic and 32 percent international, he said, and by year-end 2015, the country will have made $13 billion in debt payments. Marco Torres was said to have […]

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Venezuela’s international reserves fell to a 12-year low of $15.3 billion as the South American country faces payments on its dollar debt totaling $4.5 billion in October and November. Reserves fell $614 million on Oct. 16, the central bank said Monday on its website. That’s the lowest level since May 2003 and the biggest daily decline since June 3, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The country, which has seen dollar revenue decline with oil prices, and its state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, have principal and interest payments of $1.5 billion due this month and another $3 billion in November, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The government will likely be able to pay its debt due this year, although there’s a 60 percent chance of default next year, Eurasia Group said Monday. “While Eurasia Group continues to expect Venezuela to service its debt in 2015, a […]

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks on national television in Caracas, Oct. 6. (JUAN BARRETO/AFP Photo/Getty Images) A political turnover could be in store for Venezuela, and the country’s leaders are doing their best to prepare for it. The Dec. 6 parliamentary elections are less than two months away, and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) stands a good chance of losing its legislative majority. Faced with the possible erosion of their political power, the party’s key figures are taking steps to secure their own futures. Click here to continue reading… Stratfor provides global awareness and guidance to individuals, governments and businesses around the world. We use a unique, intel-based approach to analyze world affairs. Copyright © 2015 Stratfor Global Intelligence, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 221 West 6th Street Suite 400 – Austin, TX 78701, USA unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences | forward […]

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AP Photo/Gregorio Marrero CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A Venezuelan opposition leader who had been living in self-imposed exile was arrested Thursday after returning to the socialist South American country. Former Gov. Manuel Rosales flew into Venezuela on Thursday after six years as a fugitive. Intelligence police met him at the airport and took him into custody. He was expected to appear in a Caracas court later in the day. Before his arrest, Rosales vowed to continue fighting the country’s 16-year-old socialist administration and urged Venezuelans to vote in Dec. 6 legislative elections. Authorities had warned him days earlier that he would be detained if he came back. Rosales was governor of the western state of Zulia, where he returned Thursday. He ran for president in 2006 and lost to Hugo Chavez. He went into exile in 2009, fleeing to Peru and then Panama after prosecutors accused him of stealing […]

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Rafael Ramirez waves during his meeting with Colombia’s Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin in Caracas November 19, 2014. Venezuela this month will unveil a bold new strategy for rescuing ailing oil prices, one lifted from the OPEC’s history books – a price band that would build an automatic floor for prices at $70 a barrel. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Venezuela’s long-time oil minister and current United Nations ambassador Rafael Ramirez said the proposal – to be presented to a meeting of OPEC technical advisors on Oct. 21 – would reapply the old mechanism of progressive production cuts to control prices, with a "first floor" of $70 per barrel and a later target of $100 per barrel. "We will try to progressively recover the price," he said. The proposal offers the first detailed public insight into Venezuela’s months-long global effort to drum up support for measures to revive […]

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A ship arrives at the port in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, on Aug. 24, 2015. Venezuela is suffering the deepest economic crisis in its history with output expected to contract 9.1 percent this year, Barclays Plc said Friday. The economic contraction will likely reach 16.5 percent between 2014 and 2016, while inflation over that period will exceed 1,000 percent, Barclays wrote in a note to clients. “It is impossible to understand why the government is not reacting to this reality, why it has not taken measures to alleviate the economic distortions that are destroying the real income of Venezuelans,” Barclays said. President Nicolas Maduro will not likely announce any changes in economic policy before congressional elections Dec. 6, the bank said. With support for the ruling Socialist party at around 19 percent, the country is politically divided as it also battles low prices for oil, which accounts for 95 percent […]

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