Venezuela Taps Obscure Driller to Replace Big-Name Oil Firms

(Bloomberg) -- With brand-name drillers unwilling to jump in, Venezuela is resorting to a newly formed U.S. company for help in shoring up production from its crude reserves, the largest in the world.

Schlumberger Ltd. and Halliburton Co., the world’s biggest oil-service providers, have announced over $2 billion in combined write-offs for unpaid bills in Venezuela since the second quarter of 2017. That’s left the South American country little choice but to reach out to secondary service companies with its oil exports slumping to a 28-year low.

The result: An agreement with U.S.-based Erepla Services LLC, created in 2018, to boost production at the Tia Juana and Rosa Mediano and Ayacucho 5 fields in exchange for half the oil produced, according to documents seen by Bloomberg. Erepla will supply rigs and crews in the onshore fields for 25 years, with an option to extend for another 15 years, according to the contract.

"The agreement gives U.S.-based Erepla enhanced managerial participation and an innovative payment structure designed to avoid the shortfalls that have plagued previous projects," Harry Sargeant III, a principal in Erepla, said in a statement Saturday.

Sale Breakdown

All of the oil produced will initially be bought by Erepla Trading from Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state energy company. PDVSA will get 50.1 percent from any subsequent resale while Erepla will get 49.9 percent. The agreement gives PDVSA oversight but not operational control.

"We believe that the new model created in this agreement is in the national interest of the United States and the interest of the Venezuelan people," Sargeant said in his statement. The company’s work "will be carried out in accordance with the economic sanctions enforced by the U.S. Treasury Department, as well as other applicable U.S. and Venezuelan” laws, he said.

The absence of U.S. involvement in Venezuela’s oil sector would only "create an opportunity for Russian and Chinese interests to access the Venezuelan oil reserve – an outcome that would be detrimental to U.S. interests," the statement said.  

PDVSA declined to comment on the contract.

It’s not the first time Venezuela, once Latin America’s largest oil exporter, has been forced to turn to lesser lights within the industry for help. In 2017, closely held Horizontal Well Drillers LLC -- a company relatively unknown even in its home town of Purcell, Oklahoma -- was hired to explore three areas in the Orinoco Belt.

PDVSA and Venezuela, home to the world’s biggest crude reserves, ended 2018 with a whimper as overseas sales dropped to the lowest in nearly three decades. The contract between PDVSA and Erepla was signed in November, but it won’t translate into additional barrels just yet.

Venezuela has become the target of financial sanctions imposed by the U.S. In November, Erepla applied for a license to work in Venezuela with the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which implements sanctions.

With a government shutdown in the picture and the threat of the U.S. potentially tightening the screws further, it’s unclear how long it may take. The department didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment after normal business hours.

To contact the reporters on this story: Lucia Kassai in Houston at lkassai@bloomberg.net;Ben Bartenstein in New York at bbartenstei3@bloomberg.net;Fabiola Zerpa in Caracas Office at fzerpa@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Marino at dmarino4@bloomberg.net, Reg Gale, James Ludden

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