For the immediate future at least, it would appear that foreign oil companies that had been part of joint venture arrangements with Venezuela in the shadow of United States-imposed sanctions have, it seems, decided to call it a day, according to an Oilprice.com report published last week.
The report states that eight foreign oil companies that had worked in the country under Joint Venture arrangements (JV’s) with Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA have decided to respond to the ‘green light’ given by the Venezuelan government to terminate their JV’s and effectively sever their working relationships with the country’s oil and gas sector. There is, however, a critical caveat in the arrangement, according to a Reuters report, while the departing companies will be allowed to either sell their shares or return them, they must forgive past debts and unpaid dividends as part of the exit deal.