Opportunity Crudes

Both Iran and Venezuela are currently sanctioned by the US, which specifically targeted their oil exports to the international market, although both countries are finding ways to skirt the restrictions.

According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), oilsands operators seek to boost spending by 22% to C$32.8B ($26.3B) this year to lift capacity, with higher oil prices and more export capacity supporting greater oilsands output.

Appointed back in Oct., Canada's new Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said that the Trudeau government was "going to be very aggressive in reducing emissions from the [oilsands] sector" and would work with other countries to drive down long-term crude demand as it looks to reduce GHG emissions to address climate change.

According to OPEC's Dec. 2021 Monthly Oil Market Report, Venezuelan oil production in Nov. was at 824K b/d, a 9% increase compared to Oct. and is nearly double the 434K b/d the country produced in Nov. 2020.

The latest developments in oil production and exports in three major heavy-oil players, i.e., Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela, are expected to impact US and, to some extent, Asian and European refiners in the coming years.

USD Partners said on Dec. 16 its new diluent recovery unit (DRU) at the Hardisty Energy Terminal in Alberta, Canada is now fully operational and processing over 50K b/d, with most of this output going to anchor customer ConocoPhillips (COP).

In June, five major oilsands producers—Suncor Energy Inc., Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Cenovus Energy Inc., Imperial Oil Ltd., and MEG Energy—announced the Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero initiative, which was formed with a goal of achieving net-zero GHG emissions from oilsands operations by 2050 to help Canada meet its climate goals.

PDVSA production reports reviewed by S&P Global Platts showed on Nov. 30 that the South American country's oil output in Nov. rose by 40K b/d from Oct. to 660K b/d amid Orinoco Belt output rising by 40K b/d to 420K b/d following the receipt of Iranian condensate cargoes last month under a six-month oil swap deal signed by the two countries that allowed Venezuela to boost its diluent inventories to 1.7MM bbl, the highest level since 2019 when imports of naphtha and light crude were halted due to US sanctions.

On Nov. 19, officials announced that the Canadian government's 300K-b/d pipeline will remain closed for another week after landslides and severe floods in British Columbia forced its closure on Nov. 14.

The country's Energy Minister told Argus that Ecuador aims to boost its crude production to 1MM b/d from an average of 515.0K b/d this year.