Further LNG trains for Venezuela’s PDVSA

Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA plans to build three liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains, company President and Oil and Energy Minister Rafael Ramírez is believed to have said at the Latin American Petroleum Show in Maracaibo. BNamericas reported that the company previously said it was developing two trains and considering a third at the Cigma liquefaction facility under development near the Delta Caribe Oriental offshore blocks. Exports would start by 2014, according to PDVSA. California-based Chevron, which has stakes in the Plataforma Deltana projects that will help supply the project with gas, is thought to be involved in one of the trains, according to Ramírez. Argentina’s state oil company Enarsa and Portugal’s Galp are also said to be participating in the trains, while Japanese engineering firms are expected to take part in some capacity and France’s Total, Norway’s StatoilHydro and an Iranian company also are thought to be involved in the project, according to various sources. The first train will use gas from PDVSA’s Mariscal Sucre field, which PDVSA plans to develop alone. The second will use gas from the Plataforma Deltana’s Block 2. Chevron is known to hold a 60% stake in Deltana’s Block 2, although PDVSA can buy an increased share in the block when commerciality is declared. LNG from the facility would go to both ‘strategic’ markets in Latin America, as well as other markets with traditionally more lucrative LNG prices.