China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has made significant investments in place of Venezuela’s state owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PdV), which retreated from its international commitments following the death of Hugo Chavez, suggests Jeffrey Kerr, Managing Analyst for Downstream Oil & Gas at GlobalData.

CNPC has signed deals in both Costa Rica and Ecuador. Both projects were negotiated primarily by PdV.

Kerr has said that ‘despite PdV being an initial partner and key driving force behind projects, representatives from the company were largely missing from signing ceremonies, which suggests that it is scaling back from these investments following the President’s death earlier this year.

‘CNPC now appears to be stepping up in PdV’s place to operate within the open market’.

In Costa Rica, CNPC has teamed up with state owned oil company, Recope, signing a deal for a US$ 1.5 billion upgrade of the 25 000 bpd Porto Limon refinery. The upgrade includes an atmospheric distillation unit boost to 60 000 bpd and is scheduled for completion in 2016.

In Ecuador, CNPC and PetroEcuador plan to build a 300 000 bpd refinery in El Aromo, on the Pacific Coast. GlobalData anticipate that the project will facilitate future cooperation between the two companies, additionally allowing CNPC to gain exploration and production rights for its own upstream business in Ecuador.

Kerr has emphasised that CNPC already has production deals in place in Venezuela, hence these more recent contracts represent a strengthening of CNPC’s foothold within the region over the coming years.