C’bean nations’ oil debt to Venezuela increasing under PetroCaribe agreement

Aug 13, 2011 News

…..almost $5B annually 

 
Although shipments of crude oil and petroleum byproducts to Caribbean nations from Venezuela declined four percent last year, from 224,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2009 to 215,000 bpd in 2010, the financed portion of 170,000 bpd under the PetroCaribe agreement amounts to US$4.96 billion on account annually, according to Venezuelan reports.
The financed amount increased 20 percent as a result of higher oil prices.
Sales of petroleum byproducts to the Caribbean increased 102 percent (from 36,000 to 73,000 bpd), while sales of crude oil fell 24 percent (from 188,000 bpd in 2009 to 142,000 bpd in 2010).
Shipment of oil within the framework of Petrocaribe and the Caribbean Energy Agreement includes long-term financing of up to 25 years.
Overall, in 2010, state-run oil holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) not only recorded a 1.4 percent drop in its output, according to the numbers provided by the oil company, but also weaker exports, including destinations such as Central America and the Caribbean.
In 2010, Venezuelan exports of crude oil and byproducts reached 2.41 million barrels per day (bpd), a downsizing of 267,000 bpd or 10 percent versus 2.68 million barrels sold overseas in 2009.
Pdvsa explained that sagging exports resulted from “fewer hydrocarbons available for sale, due to operating and seasonal conditions and raising consumption in the domestic market.”
Shipments to Guatemala and Nicaragua, the only countries in Central America that received Venezuelan hydrocarbons, shrank 12 percent or 22,000 bpd of crude oil and byproducts in 2010. In the case of Nicaragua, shipments of crude oil slipped back from 16,000 to 15,000 barrels of oil, but the sale of byproducts jumped from 2,000 to 5,000 bpd.
At the same time, in 2010, North America got 7 percent less crude oil and byproducts than in 2009, sliding 1.35 to 1.26 million barrels from 2009 levels.