pdvsa

Depending on source of information, Venezuela carries a debt burden between 150 and 200 billion USD. And that's the first problem: nobody knows with exactitude how much it is, given the country stopped publishing accounts well over a decade ago. Nonetheless, U.S. puppet Delcy Rodriguez announced plans to restructure it and tapped none other than old friend Matthieu Pigasse, whose current bio doesn't even mention Venezuela.

Spain's Prosecutor Santiago Pedraz dismissed the connection between Alejandro Betancourt and a $4.85 billion money laundering scheme centered on PDVSA, by arguing that Venezuelan courts had found no crime regarding the case.

In the context of a bribes payment criminal probe by the U.S. Department of Justice involving Brazil's Petrobras Trafigura admitted guilt, dusting off its deceased founder and former CEO Claude Dauphin.

The Houthis have been in the news recently for their spectacular hijacking of Galaxy Leader cargo vessel in the Red Sea. A known financier of Houthi rebels is Sa’id al-Jamal, described by the U.S.

Further to media announcements in late September about development of Dragon Field by Trinidad and Venezuela, the Maduro government is yet to give any indication as to what was signed and how the deal, which has to comply with U.S. Treasury's sanctions, will structure a non-cash paying mechanism to Venezuela. Deals of this nature signed by the Executive only become official, as far as current Venezuelan law is concerned, once Congress approves and orders publication in Official Gazette. That is yet to happen.

An "anti graft" drive was launched by Nicolas Maduro in March this year, after "realising" that Tareck El Aissami was, like all its predecessors, looting PDVSA and billions of dollars were unaccounted for. El Aissami was removed and hasn’t been seen since. Pedro Tellechea, PDVSA's new CEO, is meant to be driving a clean up operation that won't leave a stone unturned in its "fight against corruption". For instance, Wilmer Ruperti's petcoke contracts have been scrutinised.

The claim that Venezuela had the "world's largest oil reserves" went viral during Hugo Chavez's presidency. It is a very convenient claim, from a geopolitical and economic viewpoint. It somehow makes the country more relevant. Chavez nurtured and repeated the legend every time he could. It became one of those revolutionary mantras that everyone regurgitates without question, like the lie that Venezuela was declared an "illiteracy free territory" by UNESCO.

Take a look at this Ponzi scheme: it is said to be Spain's largest, €3 billion that belonged to 300,000 people vanished.

El Nacional reported yesterday, without giving much detail, that Alessandro Bazzoni is the ultimate beneficiary owner of United Petroleo, a Panamanian shell that has been lifting hundreds of millions of dollars worth of PDVSA crude in the recent past.

A ruling from Judge Leonard P.  Stark of U.S. District Court in Delaware (case Rusoro Mining Ltd. v. Bolivarian Rep. of Venezuela, 21-mc-00481-LPS) claims that Juan Guaidó had objected to the sale by Nicolas Maduro's regime of a 35% stake that PDVSA had in Nynas. This site has covered extensively Nynas's reorganisation process.