Rafael Ramirez 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…

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.

Venezuela is sending its first shipment of crude mixed with Algerian light oil to China, according to state oil company PDVSA and traders. Venezuela recently started importing Saharan Blend from Algerian state-run Sonatrach to dilute its extra heavy crude from the Orinoco oil belt. PDVSA had previously imported costlier naphtha to use as a diluent. The Carabobo supertanker carrying 1.8 million barrels of Merey heavy crude will arrive in China in 46 days, PDVSA said in a statement. It did not elaborate on the terms of the deal. "This Merey crude was made with the imported Algerian crude," a trader said on Friday. The Merey blend using Algerian oil fetches Venezuela $20 dollars more per barrel than crude mixed with imported naphtha, according to Foreign Minister Rafael Ramirez.

Recruiting hires reflect demand for talent in the oil and gas and maritime sectors, across the U.S. Faststream, an oil and gas and maritime recruiting and staffing services company, hired eight recruiters in its Houston and Fort Lauderdale offices to focus solely on placing talent within the oil and gas and maritime sectors, reflecting the market needs and industry demands for qualified, experienced and well-trained talent. “The demand for talent in the oil and gas and maritime industries is nearing all-time highs,” said Eric Peters, U.S. managing director for Faststream.

Saudi Arabia cuts oil prices for U.S. customers; Brent and WTI touch respective 4-year and 3-year lows. Brent crude oil fell more than 3 percent to its lowest in over four years near $82 a barrel on Tuesday, after top oil exporter Saudi Arabia cut sales prices to the United States. Front-month Brent touched a low of $82.08, its weakest since October 2010, and was down $2.60 at $82.18 a barrel by 1305 GMT. U.S. light crude was down $2.40 at $76.38 a barrel. It touched a session low of $75.84, its weakest since October 2011, as its discount to Brent hovered around $6. Top global exporter Saudi Arabia increased its December official selling prices (OSPs), relative to benchmarks, to Asia and Europe on Monday, but lowered prices to the United States, a smaller export market.

Venezuela and Ecuador are working on a joint proposal to defend oil prices that the two countries will present at the next OPEC meeting, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday. Venezuela was the first country to request an extraordinary meeting of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to discuss the sharp drop in crude prices that began in October, but the idea got little support. "Our Foreign Minister Rafael Ramirez was in Ecuador today coordinating with the government of President (Rafael) Correa, and we are going to take a proposal to OPEC," Maduro said during a televised broadcast. OPEC meets to review policy on Nov. 27. The weekly average of Venezuela's basket of crude and refined products dropped on Friday by $0.11 from the week before, to $75.79 per barrel.

Venezuela is considering importing crude oil for the first time ever and could use a light oil from its partner in OPEC, Algeria, to dilute their own heavy crude, according to a company document seen by Reuters accessed on Wednesday. Despite having the largest oil reserves in the world, in recent years Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) has been buying increasing amounts of heavy naphtha for blending with the extraction of heavy crude in the Orinoco Oil Belt, the largest producing region . These blends are made to convert the extra-an exportable product, amid the decline in local production of medium and light crude oils previously used as diluents and delays in construction of new breeders that can change the quality of the crude.

Rosneft President Igor Sechin held talks with the Minister of Popular Power for Oil and Mining and President of Petróleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA ), Rafael Ramirez Carreno. The parties discussed a wide range of issues regarding current cooperation between the companies, Rosneft activities in Venezuela and the outlook of development of new projects. Currently Rosneft and PDVSA cooperate in the realization of 5 Joint Ventures in the upstream sphere in Venezuela. Project Carabobo-2,4 (JV Petrovictoria). JV PetroMonagas. Project Junin-6 (JV PetroMiranda). JV Boqueron. JV Petroperija. Total geological oil reserves of these projects are estimated more than 20.5 bln t.

Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA said on Saturday a $2 billion pre-payment from Russian oil producer Rosneft will be destined in part to develop its coveted Orinoco belt. State-run Rosneft earlier on Saturday announced a flurry of deals including a long-term contract with PDVSA for 1.6 million tonnes of oil and 7.5 million tonnes of oil products within five years. Venezuela is struggling with stagnant oil and natural gas production, and has its sights set on the vast southern Orinoco belt as a way to boost production. "We're focusing all our technological capacity to develop this oil province which will give us 150 years of production at a rate of 6 million barrels per day, (as per) our aim for 2019," PDVSA President and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said in a statement.

Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA on Wednesday said it had been granted a total of $2 billion in credit lines by oilfield services companies Halliburton Co, Schlumberger NV and Weatherford International Ltd. "What we have signed is for the companies to increase activities in our country, in some cases doubling them," PDVSA President and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said at a ceremony in the western city of Maracaibo. By giving credit lines to PDVSA, the companies will be able to increase their service contracts with OPEC member Venezuela. The deal may allow PDVSA, whose cash-flow problems are well known, to postpone payments of accumulated debts to its main service providers.