North American Blue Energy Partners is expanding its Venezuelan oil operations under a U.S. agreement, targeting 41 rigs in the country during November while reporting output above 223,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The company’s Oct. 31 update placed nine drilling rigs in Venezuela, with three already working in the Junín 10 block. The other six were at different pre-deployment stages: three were expected to begin operations there and three were being repaired or repositioned. NABEP also listed four drilling rigs moving toward Venezuela from Houston, Brazil and Colombia.
For workover operations, NABEP counted 20 rigs in Venezuela and 15 others in Houston for refurbishment before deployment in the country’s west. It gave no timetable linking the listed equipment to its November total.
The company reported total hydrocarbon production of 223,509 barrels of oil equivalent per day on Oct. 19, compared with about 200,000 in August. The same portfolio-wide figure appeared in EconoTimes’ earlier coverage of NABEP’s output.
NABEP says roughly $1 billion in company-funded investment over two years helped lift production from about 18,000 barrels per day to more than 200,000. It says its Venezuelan operations also employ 5,000 people and support 10,000 contract employees in the country. NABEP CEO Alejandro Betancourt said oil revenue is financing equipment purchases: “We are paying for every one of these rigs with the oil we produce.”
The expansion follows an August agreement with the U.S. Departments of State and War. A White House fact sheet says NABEP granted the Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital a 35% stake in its parent company. The fact sheet says the State Department has the right to buy 20% of NABEP’s oil off-take at production cost and first refusal on the remaining 80%.
NABEP’s stated near-term target is to exceed 1 million barrels of oil per day.
