US firms set to cash in as Venezuelan oil shake-up leaves China, Russia scrambling

CALGARY — The US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has left the fate of billions of barrels of that country’s oil claimed by Chinese and Russian state-backed companies in doubt.Bloomberg News reports that the news has triggered scrutiny from China’s financial regulators, as the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) has asked policy banks and major lenders to report their exposure to Venezuela and strengthen monitoring of Venezuela-related credit risks, as Beijing is concerned the upheaval from the Maduro situation could jeopardize billions of dollars in outstanding loans and oil-backed supply agreements.According to Morgan Stanley Research, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) holds the single largest corporate claim on Venezuelan oil, with entitlement to as much as 2.8 billion barrels under current agreements with state-owned oil firm Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA).OilPrice.com also reports that Russia’s Roszarubezhneft has claims estimated at 2.3 billion barrels, based on data from Wood Mackenzie, while US company Chevron is entitled to roughly 900 million barrels.“The crucial question is what will happen with Venezuela’s production from here,” Morgan Stanley analysts said.“This remains hard to forecast.”.WIECHNIK: US-backed Venezuela oil rebuild threatens Canadian crude exports.Chevron is currently the only US company authorized to operate in Venezuela and export crude, positioning it to lead the charge for US companies if Washington loosens restrictions.Following Maduro’s arrest on Saturday, US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said American companies such as Chevron would be eager to help rebuild Venezuela’s oil sector.“We’re going to have our very large US oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” Trump said.On Monday morning, shares of large US refiners soared in pre-market trade, with Chevron seeing its shares jump by 6%.Shares in Marathon Petroleum, Valero Energy, Phillips 66, and PBF Energy also jumped between 5% and 12%.Signs of investor interest have already begun emerging as the Venezuela situation evolves.Ali Moshiri, the former head of Latin American operations at Chevron, told the Financial Times in an interview on Monday morning that his firm, Amos Global Energy Management, is in discussions with institutional investors to raise $2 billion to invest in Venezuela’s energy sector..NDP leadership hopefuls unanimously condemn American action in Venezuela .“We have been anticipating this breakthrough for a while and our $2 billion private placement memorandum is ready to go with several investment targets identified,” Moshiri said.“Interest in Venezuela has gone from zero to 99%… I’ve had a dozen calls over the past 24 hours from potential investors.”At the same time, it appears that Venezuelan oil may be quietly moving again despite US sanctions.Tankertrackers.com shows that roughly a dozen tankers loaded with Venezuelan crude and fuel departed the country’s waters in recent days in “dark mode,” appearing to evade a strict US blockade.All identified vessels are under US sanctions, and a source familiar with shipping paperwork revealed to Reuters that at least four supertankers had been cleared by Venezuelan authorities to leave the country in dark mode.The shipments could provide temporary relief to PDVSA, which had accumulated significant floating storage as exports stalled under the blockade, dragging oil shipments to a near standstill.Trump confirmed on Saturday that an oil embargo on Venezuela was in full force, but added that under an incoming transition, Venezuela’s largest customers — including China — would continue receiving oil.

US firms set to cash in as Venezuelan oil shake-up leaves China, Russia scrambling

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