Eni, Repsol Move to Raise Venezuela Gas Output, Upgrade Infrastructure

Eni and Repsol are planning to boost output at Venezuela’s Cardon IV gas field, with drilling and infrastructure upgrades aimed at increasing supply.

(Reuters) — Spain's Repsol and Italy's Eni are seeking to increase production at Venezuela's Cardon IV gas field to 645 million cubic feet per day, the manager of the project told an oil conference in Caracas on April 27, as an official from the state oil company separately pledged crude output increases.

The field currently produces about 580 million cubic feet per day, manager Gonzalo Antonio Carrillo told the Venezuela Energetica conference. He did not say when the companies hope to reach their new goal.

"We're going to move forward step-by-step. The first step will be to ramp up slightly to 645 (million cubic feet per day)," Carrillo said, adding the companies' next step would be to drill more and improve infrastructure at the field.

In her own presentation, Venezuela's vice minister for gas Cindy Rondon said the country needed to speed up repairs to gas infrastructure.

"We have to speed up the recovery of infrastructure. We need to carry out projects to optimize the handling of associated gas," she said. "These are solutions that need to be delivered in the short and medium term.”

Venezuela will increase exports of crude oil to 1.06 million barrels per day, Jovanny Martinez, executive vice president of state oil company PDVSA, told attendees, adding that fuel exports will rise to 134,000 bpd by year-end.

The company is eventually seeking to reach 3 million bpd, he added.

Monthly oil exports surpassed 1 million bpd in March for the first time since September, with sales to refiners in India and shipments by trading houses to the Caribbean for storage pushing up volumes, Reuters reported earlier this month.

Martinez said earlier in the day that regulations tied to a sweeping oil reform law were still being worked on.