Eulogio Del Pino News

Last July 6, Major General Manuel Quevedo joined his wife, a Catholic priest and a gathering of oil workers in prayer in a conference room at the headquarters of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA.The career military officer, who for the past year has been boss at the troubled state-owned oil company, was at no ordinary mass. The gathering, rather, was a ceremony at which he and other senior oil ministry officials asked God to boost oil output."This place of peace and spirituality…

Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA, sent a tanker in October to the Caribbean with the expectation that its cargo of crude would fetch about $20 million - money the crisis-stricken nation desperately needs. Instead, the owner of the tanker, the Russian state-owned shipping conglomerate Sovcomflot, held the oil in hopes of collecting partial payment on $30 million that it says PDVSA owes for unpaid shipping fees. Despite a longstanding alliance between Venezuela and Russia, Sovcomflot sued PDVSA in St. Maarten, a Dutch island on the northeast end of the Caribbean. "The ship owners ... imposed garnishment on the aforementioned oil cargo," reads a March decision by the St. Maarten court.

Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is in talks with oil services companies to turn unpaid bills into financial instruments, a process known as securitization, its president, Eulogio del Pino, said in a statement on Saturday. Several oil services companies suspended or slowed operations this year due to difficulties in obtaining payment from PDVSA, which is struggling because of low oil prices and a decaying socialist economy. Del Pino last month said PDVSA signed financing agreements with Weatherford International Plc and Halliburton Co and was close to a deal that would allow Schlumberger to boost its presence in the OPEC nation. "We trade commercial debt for financial debt…

Traders shut short positions ahead of Brent expiry. Crude oil prices reversed early losses on Friday, with Brent on track for its first weekly gain in a month, as strong U.S. gasoline demand and hopes of OPEC action outweighed concerns over fundamental oversupply. Brent crude futures were trading at $36.09 a barrel at 1100 GMT, up 80 cents from their last close and an intra-day low of $34.73. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 75 cents at $33.82. The gains, if they hold, would mark the third consecutive daily increase for Brent and the fifth for U.S. benchmark WTI. Traders said that the rises were driven by short positions closed ahead of Brent's expiry next week and by strong demand for gasoline in the United States.

Three vessels suspected of smuggling subsidized fuel from Venezuela's refinery-rich Paraguana peninsula were detained this week by the country's navy, a local commander said on Saturday. Sources told Reuters on Monday that seven people had been arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle diesel in a tanker owned by state oil company PDVSA. Admiral Andres Gomez, commander of a local navy unit, confirmed tanker 'Negra Hipolita' was found with an excess load of 50,000 barrels of diesel fuel at the Cardon refinery. Two additional vessels, both from Panama, were detained this week by the Venezuelan navy, also on smuggling suspicions, Gomez added. It was not immediately clear when they were apprehended. PDVSA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

When night falls over western Venezuela, armed gangs known as "pirates" sometimes ride boats into muggy Lake Maracaibo to steal equipment from oil wells. In the country's Paraguana peninsula, opposite the Caribbean island of Aruba, slum dwellers at times break through a perimeter wall into Venezuela's biggest refinery and rob machinery, construction tools, and cables to sell as scrap. On the other side of the OPEC country in Monagas state, around 26,000 potential barrels were lost in March during a shutdown after state oil company employees and contractors stole copper cables and caused a tank to overflow. Venezuela's national crime pandemic - the United Nations says the country has the world's second-highest murder rate after Honduras - is a growing headache for the oil industry…

CARACAS/HOUSTON, March 13 (Reuters) - A subtle change in office attire may be the most telling symbol of a quiet revolution taking place inside Venezuela's troubled economic engine, giant oil firm PDVSA. For years, PDVSA employees were encouraged to wear red shirts in support of late President Hugo Chavez's socialist movement. Rafael Ramirez, the former oil czar famously vowed the state-owned firm would be "redder than red" and sent workers to state rallies. Over the past few months, however, the company's new management - led by president Eulogio del Pino, a low-profile Stanford-educated engineer - has eased up on revolutionary garb and attendance at militant gatherings, according to sources within and outside the company.

Rosneft President, Chairman of the Management Board Igor Sechin held a working meeting with Eulogio Del Pino, PDVSA Vice President of Exploration and Production today. The parties pointed meaningful results of joint projects of the two companies at the meeting. Daily production of the joint venture in the territory of Republic of Venezuela is currently 160 thousand barrels. The parties also discussed the signed contract for the delivery of Rosneft oil and oil products to PDVSA with downpayment of 2 billion dollars. Igor Sechin and Eulogio Del Pino expressed confidence that organization of constant deliveries will strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation between the companies.