Vietnam's graft hunters zero in on Venezuela oil project
Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security is investigating a loss-making oil and gas project in Venezuela, as Hanoi probes corruption involving state enterprises and the South American country falls deeper into chaos.
The Vietnamese authorities have asked state-run Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, better known as PVN, to "provide all documents relating to the implementation of the project" to tap and upgrade the Junin-2 oil field in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt, an area thought to contain the world's largest oil reserves.
PVN terminated the contract in December 2013, determining that little progress had been made. But the ministry is looking into suspected legal violations before the termination.
The $12 billion project was launched in June 2010, according to local media. The project was managed by PetroMacareo, a joint venture between PVN subsidiary PetroVietnam Exploration Production (PVEP) and Venezuelan state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The first phase was expected to have daily output of 50,000 barrels, with 200,000 barrels coming in the second phase, and Vietnam was counting on profits within seven years.
For the Junin-2 project, the Vietnamese company was to invest around $1.2 billion between 2010 and 2015, making it one of Vietnam's biggest oil and gas projects abroad. This, however, did not include three "contract bonus" payments totaling $584 million that the Vietnamese side apparently had to pay the Venezuelan government to secure the investment license. This fee was not included or explained in the project proposal originally sent to the government, Vietnam's Finance Ministry found recently.
PVN never provided clear, complete documents on Junin-2, but mentioned the project in its financial reports from 2010 to 2016.
Only in 2018, in its 2017 financial report, did it mention that total capital provided to Venezuela came to 10.7 trillion dong ($462 million at the current rate) as of December 2017. This included two "contract bonus" transfers worth a total of $442 million.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Vietnam-s-graft-hunters-zero-in-on-Venezuela-oil-project
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Standard procedure in today's Venezuela. If you think you're going to win a contract without having to grease a palm, think again. It wasn't always that way, at least not back when PDVSA was run like a real company and not someone's personal piggy bank.