PDVSA risks losing Curacao on failure to invest: Fuel for Thought

The failure of Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA to live up to its contractually obligated investments in Curacao’s Isla refinery has come back to bite them and they now risk losing it to China, which has stepped up to the plate with its own plan. PDVSA has operated the Di Korsou refinery, also known as Isla, and the Bullen Bay oil terminal since 1985 under a lease agreement due to expire at the end of 2019. Whether a renewal of the lease would be in order has been a hotly debated topic because PDVSA has not lived up to its end of the deal. The 335,000 b/d refinery alone needs an estimated $3.5 billion investment, and PDVSA is supposed to cover two thirds of that amount.. More…