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hack89

(39,171 posts) Wed May 15, 2013, 12:22 PM May 2013

Venezuela Becomes Net Gasoline Importer in 2012

CARACAS — Venezuela in 2012 became a net importer of gasoline as a result of escalating problems at its refineries and increasing demand for fuel in its internal market, joining a growing list of countries that struggle with fuel supplies despite ample oil reserves.

The OPEC nation exported 30,000 barrels per day (bpd) of gasoline and naphtha last year, according to state oil company PDVSA's annual report. But it imported an average of 66,300 bpd of the same fuels from the United States alone, according to U.S. Energy Department data.

Losses at PDVSA's domestic refining and sales division more than tripled to $8.4 billion in 2012 from $2.3 billion the previous year as a result of these factors.

Between September and January, PDVSA imported an average of 148,000 bpd, most of which was gasoline, according to the EIA.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/14/venezuela-gasoline-idUSL2N0DU2NT20130514

Mismanagement results in Venezuela being at the mercy of US oil imports. Ooops.

10 replies

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Venezuela Becomes Net Gasoline Importer in 2012 (Original Post) hack89 May 2013 OP

Oh look you left out "the refinery blew up". Warren Stupidity May 2013 #1

Except oil production in Venezuela has been steadily falling for years. hack89 May 2013 #2

The article you cited was about refinery output, not crude oil production. Warren Stupidity May 2013 #5

It is all connected by piss poor management and lack of infrastructure investment hack89 May 2013 #6

You left out sabotage. Considering the oil lockout from 10 years ago, a very real byeya May 2013 #3

Care to provide some details? nt hack89 May 2013 #4

Not "US oil imports", "US gasoline imports" Spider Jerusalem May 2013 #7

We will be breaking even by the end of the year. hack89 May 2013 #8

the point seems to be to beat the drum, pun intended, for the neolib campaign to regain control of Warren Stupidity May 2013 #9

They sell us all the oil we want - they have no choice. hack89 May 2013 #10

Warren Stupidity

(48,181 posts)

1. Oh look you left out "the refinery blew up".

Reply to hack89 (Original post)

Wed May 15, 2013, 12:26 PM

May 2013

Second poster in as many days to make the same "interesting" edit.

Fuel imports jumped following an August explosion and fire at the country's largest refinery, Amuay, that killed more than 40 people and caused extensive damage to its storage facilities.

hack89

(39,171 posts)

2. Except oil production in Venezuela has been steadily falling for years.

Reply to Warren Stupidity (Reply #1)

Wed May 15, 2013, 12:34 PM

May 2013

Oil production in Venezuela declined sharply under the Chavez administration, however, largely due to inadequate investment in the energy infrastructure, inefficiencies in oil industry management, and the replacement of skilled oil technicians and managers with political loyalists.

The drop in oil production — more than 7 percent just in the first quarter of 2013 — is severe enough to call into question whether the Chavista oil welfare programs can be sustained. For the Caribbean and Latin American countries that have been benefiting from the PetroCaribe program, it is a time of great anxiety.

Venezuela's problem is that its oil production is declining, in part because of the lack of reinvestment and the politicization of PDVSA operations under the Chavez government. Unless oil prices move sharply higher, the country will face a significant loss of oil revenue.

"In 1997, PDVSA was producing 3.5 million barrels a day," notes Piñon, now an energy analyst at the University of Texas at Austin. "Today they are about 2.8 million barrels a day. It shows you what a bad job the Venezuelan government has done in managing their national oil company."

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/11/176843567/venezuela-s-next-leader-faces-tough-choice-on-oil-program

Warren Stupidity

(48,181 posts)

5. The article you cited was about refinery output, not crude oil production.

Reply to hack89 (Reply #2)

Wed May 15, 2013, 02:05 PM

May 2013

Refinery output was crippled by the explosion last year. The article cited was comparing the still vast oil output from Venezuela with the steep drop in refinery output that has forced them to import gasoline. The article cited was at least honest in noting that one event was responsible for most of that drop, while both you and the prior poster of this story somehow felt compelled to leave that minor detail out.

hack89

(39,171 posts)

6. It is all connected by piss poor management and lack of infrastructure investment

Reply to Warren Stupidity (Reply #5)

Wed May 15, 2013, 02:12 PM

May 2013

deferred maintenance was the reason for the refinery explosion in the first place.

The Venezuelan oil industry is falling apart and the goose that laid the golden egg is ready to croak unless significant changes are made.

byeya

(2,842 posts)

3. You left out sabotage. Considering the oil lockout from 10 years ago, a very real

Reply to hack89 (Original post)

Wed May 15, 2013, 12:54 PM

May 2013

possibility.

hack89

(39,171 posts)

4. Care to provide some details? nt

Reply to byeya (Reply #3)

Wed May 15, 2013, 12:55 PM

May 2013

Spider Jerusalem

(21,786 posts)

7. Not "US oil imports", "US gasoline imports"

Reply to hack89 (Original post)

Wed May 15, 2013, 02:43 PM

May 2013

which is an important difference; the USA is a net oil importer. The USA is also a net gasoline exporter, but this is only because the USA has refinery capacity to refine the ten million barrels a day of crude oil it imports; US imports of refined gasoline are at a level of between fifteen and eighty thousand barrels a day. US gasoline EXPORTS are around five hundred thousand barrels a day. The gasoline that's exported is refined from oil that was imported in the first place.

hack89

(39,171 posts)

8. We will be breaking even by the end of the year.

Reply to Spider Jerusalem (Reply #7)

Wed May 15, 2013, 02:51 PM

May 2013

The amount of oil produced in the U.S., now at a 21 year high, is nearly even with the amount being imported, and the gap is narrowing.

At the same time, U.S. oil production is rising. Andrew Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates expects the government data to show that U.S. production actually surpassed imports in March, when it releases its final March data at the end of the month.

"It seems to have happened in March, and it will keep happening before it becomes permanent. It could happen again in September, October, November," he said. Lipow said he expects the government will report that domestic crude production reached about 7.15 million barrels per day in March, while imports fell to 6.95 million barrels.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100721958

That being said, the point of my post was to point out how mismanagement has wrecked the Venezuelan oil industry. They have declining production, aging infrastructure and a distorted domestic market that, when combined, hint at an impending economic disaster.

Here is a good article that lays it all out.

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/11/176843567/venezuela-s-next-leader-faces-tough-choice-on-oil-program

Warren Stupidity

(48,181 posts)

9. the point seems to be to beat the drum, pun intended, for the neolib campaign to regain control of

Reply to hack89 (Reply #8)

Wed May 15, 2013, 05:56 PM

May 2013

venezuela's oil.

hack89

(39,171 posts)

10. They sell us all the oil we want - they have no choice.

Reply to Warren Stupidity (Reply #9)

Wed May 15, 2013, 06:02 PM

May 2013

we don't need to physically control it - they need oil exports to stay afloat. We could sink their entire economy by refusing to buy their oil. Or by refusing to sell them refined gasoline.

By mismanaging their oil industry, they have given America incredible leverage over their economy. And they know it.

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