PDVSA, CNPC shutter production at Orinoco Belt JV due to accident

Caracas, Venezuela — PDVSA and China's CNPC shut down their Petrolera Sinovensa joint venture due to an accident at the Morichal Operations Center in the Orinoco Belt, halting production of 88,000 b/d of extra heavy oil, according to technical reports seen by S&P Global Platts.

On April 28, an electrical failure caused an oil spill at storage tanks at the operations center. The loss of electricity and subsequent oil spill affected production in the Carabobo block of the Orinoco Belt associated with Petrolera Sinovensa — in which PDVSA owns a 60% stake and CNPC 40% — by shuttering 212 wells, technical reports compiled by the state-owned company show.

As a consequence of the shutdown of Petrolera Sinovensa, on Sunday, average production in the Orinoco Belt fell to 306,000 b/d, or 23.5% of the maximum production capacity of 1.3 billion b/d. In April, the Orinoco Belt's production averaged 390,000 b/d, according to the reports.

The reports provide details on production at joint ventures between PDVSA and its foreign partners in the four main blocks into which the Orinoco Belt is divided — Carabobo, Ayacucho, Junin and Boyaca.

In these blocks, PDVSA has seven joint ventures: Petrodelta, Petrooritupano, Petrolera IndoVenezolana, Petrolera Sinovensa, Petrocedeno, Petropiar and Petromonagas. Nine additional ventures are in development: Petroindependencia, Petrocarabobo, Petrojunin, Petromacareo, Petrourica, Petromiranda, Petrovictoria, Boyaca 8 and Junin 10.

According to the technical reports, crude production in the Carabobo block is currently 98,000 b/d. The Ayacucho block is producing 175,000 b/d. The Junin block is running at 22,000 b/d and the Boyaca block at 11,000 b/d.

In the Carabobo block, the 105.000 b/d Petrolera Sinovensa venture is shuttered now and has no estimated restart date.

The Petromonagas joint venture with Rosneft (which has a 40% stake), which is also located in the Carabobo block, is operating at 91,000 b/d or 75.8% of its 120,000 b/d capacity.

In Ayacucho block, the Petropiar joint venture (PDVSA 60%, Chevron 40%) is producing at 105,000 b/d or 55.3% of its 190,000 b/d capacity. On Sunday, an electrical failure caused the closure of 77 wells, according to the technical reports, although there were no further details available Monday.

In the Junin block, the 202,000 b/d Petrocedeno venture with Total/Equinor is producing 1,000 b/d and the 120,000 b/d Petro San Felix facility (100% PDVSA) is producing 7,000 b/d, according to the technical reports.

PDVSA could not be reached immediately for comment Monday and PDVSA's foreign partners are not authorized to comment to the press.