Cartagena Refinery News

A 655,000-barrel cargo of Venezuelan heavy crude chartered by a unit of Italy's Eni SpA departed on Friday from a port operated by state-run PDVSA, shipping data showed, marking Venezuela's first export to Europe after a three-month pause.Eni and Spain's Repsol SA last year received U.S. authorizations to take Venezuelan oil to Europe as compensation for outstanding debt in an easing of American sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry.But the shipments were allocated intermittently last year. And so far this year most Venezuelan crude exports have been halted during a sweeping audit by new PDVSA boss Pedro Tellechea, who revised contract terms to avoid a series of failed payments by some customers.The Greece-flagged Aframax tanker Minerva Alexandra…

Colombian state-run oil producer Ecopetrol will fully restart its Cartagena refinery by March, Chief Executive Officer Juan Carlos Echeverry said on Thursday. The action will make Colombia self-sufficient in refined oil products it has had to import in increasing quantities during the facility's refurbishment, which will more than double its capacity to 165,000 barrels per day. "We expect that by March at the latest the refinery will be working one hundred percent" and starting to come on line in the third quarter, Echeverry said of Colombia's second biggest refinery during a conference call. The expansion, estimated to cost more than $6.4 billion…

Colombia's top energy company Ecopetrol is targeting production of 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2015, a steep recovery over this year, clouded by rebel attacks on infrastructure and exploration failures. Ecopetrol chief financial officer Magda Manosalva told a conference in London that while the primary focus would remain on Colombia, the company also planned to bid for fields in Mexico, which is opening up its energy sector. "We see the internationalization as a chance to diversify," Manosalva said, adding that the firm would focus on available onshore fields. Rebel group attacks pushed Ecopetrol's production to an average of 750,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day so far this year -- well below the nearly 1 million in 2013.

Colombia's state-run Ecopetrol has launched a tender to buy a 170,000-180,000 barrel cargo of diluent naphtha to be received on July 10-18 at the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Caribbean or Barranquilla port, according to a document seen by Reuters on Monday. The oil company this month bought several cargoes of gasoline, ultra low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) and jet fuel while its 80,000 barrel per day (bpd) Cartagena refinery undergoes a big expansion project to double its crude distillation capacity. For this tender, the company will receive bids until Tuesday and they must be indexed to natural gasoline prices at Mont Belvieu, the invitation says. Colombia has two refineries, Cartagena and Barrancabermeja, with more than 300,000 bpd of joint capacity. (Reporting by Marianna Parraga)

Colombia's state-run Ecopetrol has launched a tender to buy three 280,000-290,000 barrel cargoes of ultra low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) to be received June 3-28, according to a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday. This marks at least the ninth tender that Ecopetrol has held to buy fuels on the open market since its 80,000 barrel per day (bpd) Cartagena refinery started maintenance and expansion work in March that will stop its major units until the second quarter of 2015. The cargoes, with a maximum of 30 parts per million of sulfur, can be delivered at the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Caribbean or Pozos Colorados port in Colombia, the invitation says. The company will receive bids until May 21 and they must be indexed to ULSD prices at the U.S. Gulf Coast.   Reporting by Marianna Parraga

In support of energy infrastructure in Latin America, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP represented Itaú BBA S.A. in providing a $370 million loan for construction of a new multipurpose port facility and terminal in Cartagena Bay, Colombia. The new Puerto Bahia terminal, located on Colombia’s northern Caribbean coast, is one of the most significant investments in the country’s energy infrastructure sector to date. When operational in early 2015, the crude oil and products terminal…