PdVSA has first lien placed on its assets after losing in court

[GatoGordo]

Conoco moves to take over Venezuelan PDVSA's Caribbean assets: Sources

U.S. oil firm ConocoPhillips has moved to take Caribbean assets of Venezuela's state-run PDVSA to enforce a $2 billion arbitration award over a decade-oil nationalization of its projects in the South American country, according to three sources familiar with its actions.

The U.S. firm targeted facilities on the islands of Curacao, Bonaire and St. Eustatius that accounted for about a quarter of Venezuela's oil exports last year. The three play key roles in processing, storing and blending PDVSA's oil for export.

The company received court attachments freezing assets at least two of the facilities, and could move to sell them, one of the sources said.

Conoco's legal maneuvers could further impair PDVSA's declining oil revenue and the country's convulsing economy. Venezuela is almost completely dependent on oil exports, which have fallen by a third since its peak and its refineries ran at just 31 percent of capacity in the first quarter.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/07/conoco-moves-to-take-over-venezuelan-pdvsas-caribbean-assets-sources.html

[EX500rider]

1. China is not so happy either:

April 25, 2018: China has refused to extend a temporary (two years so far) suspension of Venezuelan oil deliveries to China, to pay down loans China has made. This suspension of payments has cost China over $12 billion in costs to purchase the oil elsewhere. Now China wants the resumption of oil shipments and the eventual delivery of the suspended oil shipments. China has concluded that the current socialist government of Venezuela is incapable of turning the economic situation around, As China often does in situations like this, China is going to recover what it can out of this mess, which might include ownership of some Venezuelan oil reserves or major participation in rehabilitating and running those oil fields.

http://strategypage.com/qnd/china/articles/20180504.aspx

[GatoGordo]

2. China is plenty happy to poke Uncle Sam in the ribs in his own back yard, but

it isn't willing to fork over $12 billion dollars in bad loans in order to do it.

No more loans and no more grace periods. Venezuela's national assembly has made it very clear that any new or renegotiated loans need their approval (as their Constitution dictates) because when Chavismo crashes and burns, the new government will be under NO obligation to repay those loans.

Russia is out of the game too. It gave Venezuela a 2 year grace period to repay, but now Maduro isn't even sending the oil it owes Russia as payment in kind. Rosneft refused the Amuay refinery as collateral as it is in shambles and needs about $3 billion in upgrades and maintenance. All the other major refineries are shut down and VZ is producing less oil than it did 45 years ago. (1.4 m/b/d in April)

My bet is that as soon as Maduro "wins" on the 20th, the vultures will descend en masse.