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FOX Business’ Lauren Simonetti joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to talk about Chevron starting gathering and processing Venezuelan oil.
Chevron’s flagship Gulf Coast refinery is processing some first shipment of Venezuelan oil since the US capture of Nicolás Maduro in Caracas last month, turning the heavy, tar-like crude into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel for US consumers.
“We’ve been (in Venezuela) for a long time and it looks like things are starting to get better for both the Venezuelan people and the American people I would say, because what’s going to happen is that the more oil that flows to a place like Pascagoula or some of the other refineries here, it’s going to drive costs down,” said Andy Walz, president of Downstream, in an exclusive interview with Thox Chemicals.
FOX Business’ Lauren Simonetti talks with Chevron Global Refining President Andy Walz as the company processes oil from Venezuela on “The Big Money Show.”
“This oil is going to be cheaper, it’s closer, and it’s going to help these refineries run the way they were designed to, so I think that’s a really good thing.”
Walz’s comments were one of Chevron’s first public acknowledgments of processing Venezuelan crude at U.S. refineries under the company’s renewed sanctioned operations.
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A Petroleus de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) oil pumpjack in Lake Maracaibo in Cabimas, Zulia state, Venezuela on Nov. 17, 2023. (Gabby Oraa/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
FOX Business was granted exclusive access inside The Chevron facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi Thursday, where correspondent Lauren Simonetti reported near distillation units processing Venezuelan oil that arrived weeks ago.
FOX Business had access to Chevron’s facilities in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on Thursday, where correspondent Lauren Simonetti reported that near distillation units were processing Venezuelan crude that arrived in recent weeks.
The refinery currently processes about 50,000 bpd of Venezuelan crude, and Chevron has indicated it could take on another 100,000 bpd in its US system as additional shipments arrive.
Chevron’s Pascagoula refinery is among a limited number of US Gulf Coast facilities set up to process heavy sour crude like Venezuela, along with complex refineries in New Orleans, Lake Charles, Port Arthur, Houston and Corpus Christi.
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The Pascagoula Chevron Refinery. (Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The refinery also has the advantage of bringing Venezuelan oil directly to its port, eliminating the need to offload to smaller vessels or rely on offshore pipelines.
“It’s a pretty efficient system,” Walz said, pointing to a large ship in the background.
“This refinery runs 300,000 barrels (total) a day, so you have to have ships coming in here all the time, and it’s very convenient to have it close, but it’s also important and it’s a better way to run your operation.”
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth recently told FOX Business that the company is expanding its operations in Venezuela, highlighting its long-standing presence and production growth under its current sanctioned permit.
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“We’ve been there for most of the last 100 years. We have an important partner in the development and growth of Venezuela. They’re paying us the debt we owe, and the others who have left have had a harder time with that,” Wirth said.
“We’ve grown our production over the last two years from 50,000 barrels a day to 250,000, fivefold. And over the next 18 to 24 months, we see the potential to grow another 50%.”
