- ELECTRICIDAD
GE Vernova will not start repairing the power grid without a first payment from the state.
Plan: 1 GW en 24 meses y 5 GW en los 4 años siguientes · pedidos registrados: ninguno
affects industry and retailers working through outages
- PETRÓLEO
Eni starts operating Junín 5 and targets 200,000 barrels a day by 2028.
Hoy: unos 12.000 b/d · fase 1: 200.000 b/d en 2028 · decisión final de inversión: sin anunciar
affects drilling and service suppliers in the Orinoco Belt
- ORO
Delcy Rodríguez orders the Foreign Ministry to seek the return of the gold held in London.
~31 t · unos US$4.000 M al precio del 27-oct · cerca de un tercio de las reservas del BCV
affects the central bank and anyone tracking the liquidity of its reserves
The one that must pay is the Venezuelan state, which signed the agreements with GE Vernova, but it does not run its cash alone. Most of its oil revenue, its largest source of dollars, is deposited in accounts held in custody by the U.S. Treasury, and the State Department decides its disbursement; Caracas has not said what money it will pay with. The London gold it claimed on Wednesday the 28th would be held by the central bank, but it depends on a British court. GE Vernova, meanwhile, will not finance the wait. For industry working through outages, the "relief" the acting president promised on Tuesday the 27th will be measured by one fact: the first firm order GE Vernova books for Venezuela.
Tony Petrello, chairman of Nabors, said on Wednesday the 28th that nine rigs are working in Venezuela today, compared with more than 85 in 2013. The company signed a multiyear contract to bring a rig from the U.S. in early 2027.
The counts do not match and neither publishes its list: OPEC recorded two active rigs in September and Nabors speaks of nine today. Even with the higher figure, fewer than one in nine of the 2013 rigs is working. That is the physical limit on the contracts signed this year: Chevron is aiming for about 600,000 barrels a day in five years, and the new operators promise wells that someone has to drill. Petrello tied the pace to "the right commercial arrangements." OPEC's November monthly report will bring the October count.
GE Vernova has finished the engineering and lined up contractors to repair the power grid, but will not start work without a first payment from the state, its chief executive said on Wednesday the 28th.
Scott Strazik, chief executive of GE Vernova, said on Wednesday the 28th that the company will not carry out work on Venezuela's power grid without being paid first, other than planning, and that it is "really waiting for the first capital infusion." Engineering is complete and contractors are lined up, but it has booked no orders. GE Vernova signed a memorandum with the government in June and a broader agreement on September 2 covering thermal and hydroelectric generation, transmission, distribution and substations. Unit-by-unit contracts have yet to be signed.
GE Vernova — vía Bloomberg ↗Pedidos registrados: ninguno · plan: 1 GW en 24 meses y 5 GW en los 4 años siguientes, sin fecha de inicio · acuerdo amplio: 2-sep · ley eléctrica: 13 artículos aprobadosThe September agreement is a framework: each plant needs its own contract and none has been signed, so the company has no orders to execute. Its condition is to be paid before it works, other than planning. The plan promises one gigawatt of reliable power within 24 months and five more over the following four years, with no stated start date.
GE Vernova: it limits its exposure to the engineering already done and does not finance the state until there are plant-by-plant contracts.
Industry and retailers working through outages: with no payment and no order, the plan for one gigawatt in 24 months still has no start date.
INDICADORThe state's first payment to GE Vernova and the first firm order the company books for Venezuela. · Próximo informe trimestral de GE Vernova, a comienzos de 2027; sanción de la ley eléctrica, cuya segunda discusión la Asamblea Nacional prevé seguir «en los próximos días».
Eni announced on Wednesday the 28th that it has started operating Junín 5, in the Orinoco Belt, as sole operator; phase 1 targets 200,000 barrels a day by 2028.
Eni announced on Wednesday the 28th, from Milan, the start of operations at Junín 5, the heavy oil field in the Orinoco Belt, with the support of the Hydrocarbons Ministry and PDVSA. It comes less than two months after the productive participation contract signed on September 2, which makes it sole operator with full technical, financial and commercial responsibility. The plan combines restoring abandoned wells with an intensive campaign to drill new ones. According to its October 23 report, the field produces about 12,000 barrels a day.
Eni ↗Producción: ~12.000 b/d (Eni, 23-oct) · fase 1: 200.000 b/d en 2028 · petróleo certificado en sitio: 35.000 M de barriles · contrato: 25 años prorrogables, firmado el 2-sepOperating the field is not the same as having decided the investment. On October 23, Eni said it had submitted the development plan and would take the final investment decision on phase 1 once it was approved, possibly before year-end. The announcement on the 28th mentions neither the approval nor that decision. Phase 1 uses existing infrastructure and recoverable wells; reaching 200,000 barrels requires drilling new wells.
Eni: as sole operator it controls the field's execution and the sale of its crude, with full technical, financial and commercial responsibility.
PDVSA: it hands Eni the operation and commercial management of a field with 35 billion barrels of certified oil in place.
INDICADORApproval of the development plan by the Hydrocarbons Ministry and the final investment decision on phase 1. · Antes del 31 de diciembre de 2026, según dijo Eni el 23 de octubre.
The acting president ordered the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday the 28th to seek the return of the central bank's gold held at the Bank of England: "Enough excuses. There was an agreement."
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez ordered on Wednesday the 28th, at a televised cabinet meeting, that the Foreign Ministry and the Attorney General's Office start the process to recover the central bank's gold held at the Bank of England. "Enough excuses. There was an agreement," she said. That agreement, with the delegation of the National Assembly elected in 2015, set up a joint commission on October 21 and earmarks the gold for the areas hit by the June 24 earthquakes and for public services. The day before, in Carabobo, she had asked for it "for workers' wages."
Presidencia encargada — vía El Nacional ↗Oro en Londres: ~31 t, unos US$4.000 M al 27-oct (cálculo propio) · reservas del BCV: US$12.748 M al 23-oct · fondo petrolero: US$12.500-13.600 M ingresados en ene-jun (Transparencia Venezuela)The gold is not held back by the bank but by litigation over who represents the central bank, in which the judge treats as conclusive whatever the British government declares. Oil money follows a different route: it goes into accounts held in custody by the U.S. Treasury, and the State Department decides its disbursement.
The central bank, if the gold returns: about US$4 billion, close to a third of its reserves, would become available and in its own custody. For the population it is earmarked for, the gain depends on disclosure of where it is kept, who authorizes each expense and what it is spent on.
The earthquake-hit areas and workers, if their relief is tied to the gold: the agreement earmarks it for reconstruction and the acting president offered it for wages, but its return has no date.
INDICADORA written statement by the British government on who represents the central bank, or a Commercial Court hearing in the case sent back in 2023. · Sin fecha. Cuarto ciclo del diálogo, con la comisión paritaria del oro: del 11 al 15 de noviembre de 2026.