CARACAS (Reuters) – A floating complex off the coast of Venezuela has finished offloading crude oil stored there for the past two years due to US sanctions, setting the stage for the resumption of production from the oil field, the plant’s official operator said Thursday.
Operations began in December to remove oil from the floating storage and offloading facility at Nabarim, anchored in the eastern part of Paria Bay near the sea border with Trinidad and Tobago. The oil has been stored there since 2019, when the US imposed sanctions on Venezuela.
Nabarima is part of a Petrosucre joint venture between Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and Italy’s Eni, which is developing the Corocoro offshore oil field.
Last year, he experienced mechanical problems that caused him to bend over, prompting complaints from environmental organizations in Trinidad and Brazil. “@ Petrosucre1 has successfully completed all FSO Nabarima crude offloading operations to boost oil production offshore Paria Bay,” Petrosucre President Joe Romero tweeted.
PDVSA and Eni did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PDVSA is struggling to carry out maintenance and repairs at its facilities due to chronic funding shortages, exacerbated by US sanctions.
Eni and PDVSA previously sold oil produced by Petrosucre to the Venezuelan refinery Citgo. But the supply contract was interrupted by sanctions two years ago, leaving the project dormant and stuck oil in Nabarim.
Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Mexico City and Daisy Buitrago in Caracas; Edited by Muralikumar Anantaraman
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