Possible Delay in Chevron’s Delta LNG Production

According to a report in the Caracas Daily Journal, Chevron has found enough natural gas in Venezuela’s Orinoco Delta platform to warrant the country’s first LNG train. But Venezuela’s lacking gas infrastructure and indecisive construction plans have led some in the industry to wonder if Chevron will be forced to delay production. The Delta platform license issued by the energy ministry to Chevron last year stated that the company could submit a proposal to build pipe-lines from its fields to the planned CIGMA liquefied gas plant in the Paria Peninsula. But the government appeared to change its mind when state-run Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) announced in August that it intended to build the pipelines by itself. The decision could delay production schedules for Chevron -- which has licenses for blocks 2 and 3 -- and for Norway’s Statoil -- which has a license for block 4. It could also postpone PDVSA’s goal to begin LNG exports by 2010. Source: Caracas Daily Journal