Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez signed several agreements with the multinational company Shell on Thursday, June 11. These agreements represent the start of Phase I of development and operations at the Loran natural gas field. A total of five strategically important deals were signed, designed to increase Venezuela’s energy capacity for both domestic consumption and the export market.
Through the momentum generated by this first operational stage, Venezuela seeks to strengthen its role as a gas exporter, using its vast hydrocarbon reserves as part of the solution to the oil price crisis created by the US-Israeli aggression against Iran.
For over a decade, Venezuela was subjected to illegal US sanctions that heavily restricted Venezuela’s capacity to sign energy agreements with major oil corporations. After the January 3 US invasion of Venezuela that resulted in the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and the murder of over 100 people, the US, unable to remove Chavismo from the government, has been easing some of those sanctions via OFAC licenses.
The Loran field is a non-associated natural gas asset that has seven deposits, six of which are transboundary with Trinidad and Tobago. Under Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Trinidad and Tobago has become one of the continent’s most unfriendly countries toward Venezuela, leading a xenophobic anti-Venezuela tirade and even helping to facilitate the US invasion of Venezuela.
Technical-financial alliance
Four of the legal instruments signed between Venezuela and Shell refer to a technical-financial alliance established last March. They consist of service and purchase orders intended to carry out work in northern Monagas state.
These agreements aim to increase production of light crude, a hydrocarbon used as a necessary diluent in the Merey 16 blend formulated with heavy crude extracted from the Orinoco Oil Belt.
Furthermore, the supply of feedstock required for the Puerto La Cruz Refinery’s fuel production is under consideration.
Flare gas
The purchase orders resulting from the agreements signed by Venezuela with Shell include the acquisition of spare parts for the compression plant that will reduce flare gas.
The recovery of this resource allows it to be formally incorporated into the national market, serving as direct fuel for the development of the electrical, industrial, petrochemical, and domestic gas sectors, as well as for export markets.
(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SF
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