MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Maduro meets with Repsol executives to advance on joint venture

Repsol has a 40% stake in Petroquiriquire

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro met Tuesday in Caracas with executives from the Spanish oil company Repsol to further discuss the details of Monday's agreement with the South American country's PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela) to reactivate operations as the United States temporarily lifted some sanctions previously imposed on the regime.

Repsol's Executive Director for Europe, Africa, Asia, Brazil, and Venezuela, José Vicente Bravo, and Caribbean Unit Director Luis García Sánchez were welcomed at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas by the head of state together with Petroleum Minister and PDVSA President Rafael Tellechea.

On Monday, both companies agreed to reactivate the joint venture Petroquiriquire, in which Repsol has a 40% stake, which operates in fields in the Venezuelan States of Monagas (East), and Zulia and Trujillo (West).

According to Tellechea, the agreement lays “the foundations to promote the activities” of Petroquiriquire, which is “extremely important for both Spain and Venezuela.”

He also thanked “all the transnationals” that, despite the difficulties, continue to trust in Venezuela, which is experiencing a “renaissance process” of its oil industry.

Repsol's General Director of Exploration and Production Francisco Gea Pascual del Riquelme stressed that the agreement “promotes the industry, society and the relationship not only” between the Spanish oil company and PDVSA, but between both nations.

“This agreement lays the foundations for what we have to do from now on and if we continue to collaborate in the same way in which we have done in reaching this agreement, it will surely be successful for both companies and for both countries,” he underlined.

He also pointed out that this agreement “means a point and followed by the relationship and commitment that Repsol has shown with this country” in the Caribbean, where the multinational celebrated three decades of presence this year.

En el Palacio de Miraflores, el presidente Nicolás Maduro recibió a directivos de la empresa española Repsol, con quienes sostuvo una productiva reunión de trabajo tras la firma del Acuerdo Marco con PDVSA para el reimpulso de la Empresa Mixta Petroquiriquire. https://t.co/3UbMGD2pGU

— PDVSA (@PDVSA) December 19, 2023

Repsol thus became another foreign company to have signed agreements with Venezuela after the United States lifted in October many of the sanctions previously imposed on Maduro's regime, including those related to oil and gas, following an agreement ahead of the 2024 presidential elections. For Repsol, sanctions relief “provides future opportunities for the development of greater activity and value creation in the country.”

In November, PDVSA and the French company Maurel & Prom agreed to reactivate the joint venture Petroregional del Lago in the State of Zulia (northwest).

However, Washington might reverse its decision if Venezuela does not comply with the release of “political prisoners” or if opposition politician María Corina Machado remains disenfranchised.