Repsol Says Gas Discovery in Venezuela Is Among Largest in World

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Bloomberg News

Repsol Says Gas Discovery in Venezuela Is Among Largest in World
By Timothy Coulter

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Repsol YPF SA, Spain’s biggest oil company, said a natural gas field found in Venezuela is the largest in the South American country and among the biggest in the world.

The discovery may hold between 7 trillion and 8 trillion cubic feet of gas, enough to supply Spain for more than five years, the company said in an e-mailed statement today.


Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aDhUiH8vbsP8

[Judi Lynn]

1. Big natural gas find announced off Venezuela coast

September 11, 2009, 12:59PM ET
Big natural gas find announced off Venezuela coast

MADRID

Spanish energy giant Repsol has made a huge natural gas find off the coast of Venezuela that it thinks it is one of the world's biggest reserves, a spokeswoman said Friday.

The field in the Gulf of Venezuela is believed to contain 7 to 8 trillion cubic feet of gas, although the company is still conducting final tests to ascertain the amount, said Repsol spokeswoman Begona Elices. She called such a volume enormous.

The find was first announced by visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in an interview with the newspaper El Pais. He divulged its existence during a walkabout in Madrid, while visiting a bookstore. Repsol chairman Antonio Brufau was with him at the time.

Chavez gave the figure on the gas volume and Elices confirmed it to the AP.

For comparison, 7 to 8 trillion cubic feet is roughly five times the natural gas that Spain consumes in a year, said another Repsol spokesman, Kristian Rix.

More:
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9AL83K00.htm

[Judi Lynn]

2. Repsol Says Venezuela Gas Find Among World’s Largest (Update1)

Repsol Says Venezuela Gas Find Among World’s Largest (Update1)
By Timothy Coulter and Steve Bodzin

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Repsol YPF SA, Spain’s biggest oil company, discovered a Venezuelan gas field containing as much as 8 trillion cubic feet of fuel, one of the world’s largest finds.

The field may hold between 7 trillion and 8 trillion cubic feet of gas, enough to supply Spain for more than five years, the company said today in an e-mailed statement. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Repsol Chief Executive Officer Antonio Brufau discussed the Pearl 1 find, in Venezuela’s Cardon IV block, in Madrid today, according to the statement.

Repsol wants to boost oil and gas production through new finds offshore Brazil and Venezuela after four years of declining output. The company is also a partner in Brazil’s Guara oil field, which may contain 2 billion barrels of oil.

In the development phase of Pearl 1, state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA will have a 35 percent stake in the project, with Repsol and Eni SPA retaining a 32.5 percent stake.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=a0vzdTg2_Clc

[kestrel91316]

3. They found Rushbo's ass in Venezuela??

[DCKit]

4. On a related note: Republican NeoCon Frustration Peaks at All-Time High.

"That's OUR gas!" cry former Busch* administration officials.

[thereismore]

5. Quick! Let's liberate the Venezuelan people from the evil dictator. nt

[Tempest]

6. Natural gas prices are so low right now

It's not feasible for these new natural gas finds to be developed unless the government does it.

Low natural gas prices is one of the reasons Palin's ill-advised contract with TransCanada for a gas pipeline won't be built anytime soon. TransCanada gets $500 million from Palin even if the pipeline is never built.

[NickB79]

7. And they will be transporting it how?

Nat. gas isn't transported across oceans in the same way oil is. It must be pressurized and cooled extensively in expensive, specialized shipping vessels. These vessels require specialized ports to facilitate the depressurization and offloading of the gas, and these are not common (I believe there are only 5 in the US).

This is a great find for South America, as they could run pipelines throughout the continent. Not so much for the rest of the globe.

[FarCenter]

19. LNG Carriers -- 193 in service with another 140 on order in the world's shipyards

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNG_carrier

[WriteDown]

8. Venezuela is showing us how it is done...

we must ramp up oil and gas exploration in the US.

[NickB79]

9. Enough to supply the US with natural gas for 4 months

Kinda puts this "huge" discover in perspective, don't it?

[bvar22]

10. I think it puts the US glutenous consumption of energy...

...in perspective.

[WriteDown]

11. Time to turn off your computer

and reduce the gluttony.

[Occulus]

12. Christ, we need fusion power as of two weeks ago, not just today or yesterday

If we had that it just wouldn't matter how much we used.

[Prometheus Bound]

29. Enough to supply Cuba with natural gas for over 7,000 years.

Kinda puts this huge discovery in perspective, don't it?

[Downwinder]

13. When you are hot, your hot. Hugo is on a roll.

[Braulio]

31. On a roll

Venezuela imports gas from Colombia. If they figure out how to develop this discovery, they'll be able to discontinue these gas imports, and may even be able to export some. However, they will need outside help because they lack the native technology. This is where it gets complicated. The current government has been unable to make much progress reaching agreements to develop and produce offshore gas they have in the east of the country - and they really need this gas because production from existing onshore fields has been declining.

There's another issue to consider, Venezuela already has huge oil reserves, but it has been unable to increase oil production as per the government's plans. This failure is attributable to a lack of internal technical resources, and the government's inability to reach agreement with foreign parties (such as multinational oil companies or even national oil companies from friendly nations).

The investment climate in Venezuela has been rated as one of the lowest in the world by the World Bank, the main reason being the government's tendency to nationalize foreign assets. This makes foreigners very skittish when it comes to investing the huge amounts of money this type of project requires. Thus we can conclude there will be little impact on the overall Venezuelan economy as a result of this gas discovery, unless the Venezuelan government figures out how to attract foreign investment. And this will likely require they agree to terms they've refused to accept until now.

[fascisthunter]

14. I can see the greedy rubbing there little porcine hands together

[Braulio]

34. Which Greedy?

I don't get your comment.

[enid602]

15. Hugo´s friends

This is great news for FARC, Sendero Luminosa, Mara Trucha and all the cartels in Mexico and Brazil.

[bitchkitty]

17. Double yawn. Find another stupid meme. n/t

[Boku-Wa]

22. Spreading more lies. Maybe Enid prefers the military dictators that raped Latin America.

This post shows that she makes this shit up with impunity. Impunity? Just like the history of right-wing military dictatorships in Latin America.

:puke:Enid

[enid602]

23. Chavez

Don´t get me wrong; I´m all for anyone who will improve the lot of South American masses, especially the urban poor. But if you´d visited Bogota say 10 or 15 years ago, you´d have seen a country completely run by druglords, much as is happening in Mexico today. While I understand Hugo´s need to ´think outside the box´with regard to seeking potential allies for the Bolivarian revolution, I don´t feel his support of FARC and cartels are in the poor´s best interest. I live in Buenos Aires, considered to be the most sophisticated, affluent and middle class South American city. Nonetheless, MILLIONS live in shanty towns called Villas Miserias, and the kids are being fed ´paco´(it´s smoked, and is a by-product of cocaine production, much like crack, I guess) by the druglords. Crime has skyrocketed here the last couple of years. Although a dose of paco is extremely cheap, you have to smoke it every few minutes, and several people are murdered almost every night so the addicts can score paco. The following link will give you an idea of what Buenos Aires´slums are like: http://images.google.com.ar/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://www.taringa.net/posts/imagenes/3279290/Villa-miseria-(imagenes-duras-de-una-realidad-latente).html&usg=__QSSBzQlMt3Ge8T1h1n9crXSupdo=&h=406&w=600&sz=102&hl=es&start=4&tbnid=a56IYcvEr9SG7M:&tbnh=91&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvilla%2Bmiseria%2Bbuenos%2Baires%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Des%26sa%3DG ---------------------- These poor people need an ally, but not one who is willing to poison them to bring success to his revolution.

[IndianaGreen]

25. Aren't you supposed to be back in school? New semester started at SOA!

[Swede Atlanta]

16. We can't choose where nature places natural resources.......

Our economy demands natural resources. We alienate nations that have the resources we so desperately need. We have to find ways to manage relationships with neighbors with whom we disagree.

[Braulio]

32. US Energy Needs

The US doesn't really need Venezuelan gas resources. Venezuela imports gas, therefore it has to satisfy internal demand before it can export it. Long term, the best solution for the US is to encourage energy efficiency (it would really help if Americans drove smaller vehicles), and sustainable alternative energy such as solar and wind power.

[bitchkitty]

18. Fantastic news for Venezuela!

I'm loving this. If I were a religious person, I would say that God is rewarding Hugo Chavez because he is a righteous man! LOL

[greiner3]

20. "Gas Discovery in Venezuela Is Among Largest in World ;"

Relax, I heard Hugo had Jalapenos for lunch.

[IndianaGreen]

21. BREAKING: Chavez developing WMD! Chavez has ties to bin Laden!

We can predict tomorrow's headlines, can't we?

[vinylsolution]

24. I couldn't agree more.

Watch out Norway, we know you have oil, too....

[Vidar]

26. I'm happy for Venezuela.

[On the Road]

27. Wow -- This is a New Site

The other recent discoveries have been in the East AFAIK.

This one "is located in...West Venezuela, at a depth of 65 yards, in an offshore site called Cardon IV in which Repsol works since 2006." Probably near the Netherlands Antilles or Lake Maracaibo on the upper left of the map:

[xchrom]

28. good for them. nt

[daleo]

30. In place reserves or recoverable reserves?

The article doesn't say and it makes a tremendous difference.

[Braulio]

33. Exactly what type of reserves

Doesn't matter, it's gas, they will recover a large portion of it. However, the actual amount seems to be highly speculative at this time. I would wait a couple of years to see what they say they have after they check it out thoroughly.