Breaking Down President Trump’s visit to Corpus Christi<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWe took over the oil and we\u2019re working very closely with the Venezuelan representatives and the president of the country,\u201d Trump said. \u201cA lot of that oil is being sent to Texas and a lot of it is coming right here to Corpus Christi.\u201d<\/p>\n
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, and much of its crude is heavier than oil produced in other parts of the world.<\/p>\n
The new agreement calls for Venezuela to increase production to more than 1.5 million barrels per day from 17 strategic oil fields.<\/p>\n
\nMore Venezuelan oil could mean cheaper refinery feedstock <\/p>\n
Matt Bradley, an energy trader, said increased Venezuelan production could put downward pressure on the price of other heavy crude used by U.S. refineries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see increased production that will push down the other heavy crudes that we do see flow into the refineries,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cSo as we see more pressure push down other alternatives, we\u2019ll see cheaper feedstocks for refineries.\u201d<\/p>\n
That could be particularly important along the Gulf Coast, where refineries such as Citgo and Valero are designed to process heavier crude.<\/p>\n
And Venezuelan oil is already flowing to U.S. refineries in significant amounts.<\/p>\n
U.S. Energy Under Secretary Kyle Haustveit said in August that more than 500,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude were being sent to U.S. refineries each day, accounting for roughly half of Venezuela’s total oil production. Venezuela was producing about 1.25 million barrels per day at the time, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n
Reuters also reported that the U.S. refineries receiving that crude were specifically built to process Venezuelan oil.<\/p>\n
Bradley said the increased supply does not necessarily translate into lower gasoline prices immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cImmediately, I think there will be little change,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cHowever, from potentially six months to a year, I think that change is extremely more likely, and we\u2019ll be able to see that translate for the consumer at the pump.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHeavy crude can also create refinery challenges <\/p>\n
There is another consideration for refineries: the condition of the crude they receive.<\/p>\n
Evan O’Suilleabhain, a mechanical engineer who works at a refinery, said heavier oil can contain contaminants that create problems inside refinery equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cHeavier oil has the potential to contain contaminants or just like crud up the tubes and the pipes,\u201d O’Suilleabhain said. \u201cCertainly over time that can lead to more expensive repairs and also just make the operating costs of that equipment be higher.\u201d<\/p>\n
That means a potential increase in Venezuelan crude could create both opportunities and costs for refiners.<\/p>\n
O’Suilleabhain also cautioned that uncertainty surrounding the current administration’s policies could make companies more hesitant to invest billions of dollars into new projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis current administration, where it\u2019s sort of hard to predict what the next move will be, day by day, week by week, that will make a lot of investors a little more hesitant to invest multiple billions of dollars into a project where there\u2019s not as secure of a return on investment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nLocal Venezuelans have a different perspective <\/p>\n
The economic questions aren’t the only ones being raised here in South Texas.<\/p>\n
Local Venezuelans gathered in January to celebrate what they viewed as the liberation of their home country. Valentina Gomez-Cisneros, a member of the local Venezuelan community, was among them and initially supported the American takeover of Venezuela.<\/p>\n
She now says the U.S. should not be doing business with what she considers an illegitimate government.<\/p>\n
\u201cVenezuela\u2019s resources belong to the Venezuelan people, not to those who hold power without democratic legitimacy. I believe the U.S. government got this wrong,\u201d Gomez-Cisneros said in a statement to 3NEWS.<\/p>\n
The debate comes as the war with Iran has disrupted global oil supplies, adding another layer of uncertainty to the energy market and increasing the potential significance of additional Venezuelan production.<\/p>\n
\nThe potential payoff could take years <\/p>\n
Bradley said the immediate effect on gasoline prices is likely to be limited, with a more meaningful impact potentially taking years to develop.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially over the long run like 2-5 years, it\u2019s extremely meaningful,\u201d Bradley said.<\/p>\n
For Corpus Christi, the question is not simply whether more Venezuelan oil enters the U.S. market, but how much of it ultimately moves through the energy infrastructure here in the Coastal Bend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Trump previously said Venezuelan oil was coming to Corpus Christi. Now, experts explain what a new deal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-421777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.kiiitv.com\/assets\/shared-images\/icons\/arrow-circle-down.svg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n