24-06-09 Venezuelan energy and mines minister and president of state oil company PdVSA Rafael Ramirez has called for an investigation into the 1995 award of the Boscan field in Venezuela to US oil major Chevron.
"In the 1990's, the Boscan field in Zulia state was awarded without a formal tender process," Ramirez said, according to the reports. "They thought it was a marginal field, but it's now producing more than 100,000 bpd."

Chevron's operating licensee for the field was nationalized in 2006 and converted into state-controlled JV. PdVSA has a 60 % stake in the JV and Chevron holds 39.2 %. Chevron has been one of few international oil majors that has maintained stakes in the country after PdVSA nationalized the country's oil industry.
"The government already criticized Boscan in 2006, but the latest move is kind of surprising," an industry analyst told.

An industry source was sceptical of the move.
"PdVSA is clearly just looking for a way to reduce the money it owes Chevron for the Boscan mixed company dividends, probably in the hundreds of millions of dollars since 2007," the source told. "This is surprising given that Chevron was one of the few, if not only, companies to continue pumping oil during the PdVSA strike, and Chevron has been one of the most aggressive in committing to new investments in the country despite Chavez's anti-American rhetoric," the source continued.

Besides the Petroboscan JV in Venezuela, Chevron holds a 25 % interest in the Petroindependiente JV that operates the LL-652 field and a 30 % interest in the Petropiar (Hamaca) heavy crude JV. The company also holds a 100 % stake in the offshore Cardon III natural gas exploration block and stakes in two Plataforma Deltana natural gas development blocks.
Chevron produced 66,000 boepd from its operations in Venezuela in 2008, down from 72,000 boepd in 2007. The company agreed to work with PdVSA last year in the development of the country's first LNG train and also purchased the data package for the Carabobo tender for seven new heavy crude blocks currently underway.