By Daisy Buitrago and Mayela Armas
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela does not want to stop production operations during a contract audit that has led to the arrest of businesses and officials, as well as disputes with customers and partners of state-owned company PDVSA, the country’s oil minister said on Friday.
In June, the contract between PDVSA and Maroil Trading, a Geneva-based company owned by Venezuelan tycoon Wilmer Ruperti, was embroiled in a dispute over payments, causing the suspension of petroleum coke exports to the South American country.
Earlier this year, contracts with other crude oil buyers were also temporarily suspended while PDVSA reviewed billions of dollars in late payments and pending invoices. Shipments have resumed under new contract terms with customers.
“Our goal is to explore, produce, refine and export all the products we can,” Oil Minister Pedro Tellechea told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Caracas.
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“We do not intend to paralyze the production process, which will limit the growth of Venezuela. On the contrary, we are here to promote that growth,” he added.
The PDVSA this month also authorized two term contracts to export this year up to 1.6 million tons of petcoke, an oil product widely used to burn cement lamps to countries from France to China.
Investigations related to the review of unpaid debts have been transferred to the office of the Attorney General of Venezuela, Tellechea said.
Venezuela maintains “good relations” with Ruperti, and is open to registering new customers in the petcoke PDVSA produces as long as they meet the requirements, complete the regulatory process and offer competitive prices, the Minister added.
A lawyer representing Maroil told Reuters earlier this month that the company had not faced legal action against its customers amid delays in shipments, and was in talks with PDVSA over a contract dispute.
Tellechea also said that the country currently has no suspended contracts, but did not elaborate on the status of exports.
(Reporting by Deisy Buitrago, Mayela Armas and Vivian Sequera, writing by Marianna Parraga; editing by Sharon Singleton)
Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters.
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