The PDVSA 2023 Comprehensive Productive Recovery Plan presented by the Minister of Petroleum, Pedro Rafael Tellechea, proposes recovering some 390,000 b/d of crude production and reaching the long-awaited 1 million b/d proposed by his predecessors in office
The recovery plan to recover the operability of Petróleos de Venezuela proposed by the Minister of Petroleum and president of PDVSA, Pedro Rafael Tellechea, set the goal of reaching 1 million barrels per day (b/d) by next August. This aspiration arises in the midst of serious financial difficulties in the state industry, but especially with an infrastructure with many operational deficiencies.
Last Tuesday, May 9, Tellechea presented the «Comprehensive Productive Recovery Plan (PRIP)» of PDVSA for the period May to December 2023. From the Simón Bolívar Room at the company’s headquarters in Caracas He urged to make the changes that are required to reach the goal.
“We are all in charge and responsible for the improvement of this industry, the most powerful that Venezuela has (…) The PRIP-2023 is a plan that represents the entire business. Today we have to see it in an integral way and not in isolation. I demand zero bureaucracy, greater efficiency and planning,” said the head of the hydrocarbons portfolio, according to a press release.
The last time PDVSA managed to reach one million b/d was in December 2021, according to information reported by the Nicolás Maduro administration. In February 2022, the ruler had ordered the then vice president of the Economic Area, Tareck el Aissami, to raise production to 2 million b/d by the end of that period. However, the barrels produced fell again to an average of 650,000 b/d in the following years.
Previously, this same presidential request was made in 2017 to General Manuel Quevedo who held the presidency of PDVSA. “We are going to a total restructuring of PDVSA, which is why I announce the appointment of Major General Manuel Quevedo as the new president of the oil industry, our beloved PDVSA, and at the same time the appointment as the new Minister of Petroleum (…) You will be tasked with increasing production by an additional 1 million barrels.”, Maduro said by asking him to dedicate 80% of his management to increase production and to make a “great cleaning against the mafias” within the industry.
With the reactivation of operations of the North American Chevron in its joint ventures with PDVSA in the country, thanks to a license from the United States Department of the Treasury, the figures have been recovered in 2023.
In the 20-page document detailing the recovery plan seen by SuchWhich, it is proposed to recover some 390,000 b/d of crude production in the period. According to recent figures given by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in its April report, Venezuela reported that it produced 810,000 b/d, up 56,000 b/d from the previous month. While secondary sources estimate that the figure was 724,000 b/d.
Official data delivered to OPEC then shows that Venezuelan crude production increased 21% in the first four months of 2023, while for secondary sources it was 7.1%.
The document states that “the effective execution of the proposed PRIP-2023 will make it possible to build a firm recovery platform, with sufficient reliability and sustainability of the PDVSA production system for 2024”, with another of the main challenges being the incorporation into reserves. proven of 97.92 million barrels of crude oil and increase the processing of diluted crude oil from the Orinoco Oil Belt by 237,000 b/d in the upgraders and mixing plant.
The Tellechea plan
The rehabilitation and start-up of the Petromonagas upgrader is also proposed in June to process 80,000 b/d (currently managed by Chevron) of the 150,000 b/d capacity and optimize fuel production by 20% by the System of National Refining. Given these goals, Pdvsa affirms that it would increase the supply of fuels and the local market by 90,000 b/d. The state company has not reported how much gasoline and its variants it currently supplies in the country, but it has a refining capacity of 345,000 b/d.
Among the main goals is “add exports of crude oil and products in 9.5 million barrels per month and achieve contributions of total income to the state company in the order of 13,388 million dollars.”
The document of pdvsa It does not offer details on the financing required to carry out this recovery of production, nor how the participation of the mixed companies and partners of PDVSA will be.
Regarding the improvements to the oil infrastructure, only preventive and corrective maintenance works, adaptations and conditioning are proposed in some of the administrative headquarters facilities, as well as “cleaning and fumigation”.
The plan does not include the execution of major works to recover the operability of refineries, upgraders, wells and oil fields. It only mentions the investment of 4.3 million dollars for maintenance and rehabilitation actions, as well as $170,000 for “electrical insurance”.
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