SAN RAMON, Calif., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ChevronTexaco Corp. (NYSE: CVX) today announced the completion of construction of the Hamaca project's crude upgrading facility at the Jose Industrial Complex, located on the northeastern coast of Venezuela. The milestone signifies the start of a production ramp-up to occur during the fourth quarter of this year from the current production of 120,000 barrels of oil per day.
The Hamaca upgrader has the capacity to process 190,000 barrels per day of extra-heavy crude from the Hamaca region of the Orinoco Belt and transform it into 180,000 barrels per day of high-quality synthetic crude. Over the life of the project, more than 2 billion barrels of crude oil are expected to be produced and upgraded. A ChevronTexaco affiliate holds a 30 percent interest in the project.
The completion of the upgrader is a project milestone as the facility constitutes the core infrastructure of the $3.8 billion Hamaca project investment and serves as one component of ChevronTexaco's global upstream growth program. Hamaca integrates state-of-the-art producing technologies with the latest refining process methods that together give the Hamaca Field similar financial characteristics to many light oil operations. Production from Hamaca will be delivered to refining customers in the international market.
"The successful completion of the Hamaca project results from ChevronTexaco's combined emphasis on work-force safety, capital stewardship and top financial performance," said George Kirkland, president of ChevronTexaco Overseas Petroleum. "This accomplishment supports our key upstream strategy of maximizing and growing the value of our base business, and it comes at an important time when global demand for energy is increasing. The Hamaca project and Venezuela, in general, are well positioned to be reliable, long-term contributors in meeting that demand."
Kirkland added that one of the aspects that attracted ChevronTexaco to the Hamaca project was its world-class-size resource base. Venezuela's Orinoco Belt contains the largest known hydrocarbon deposit in the world. Accordingly, the project is fertile ground for the continual application of next-generation producing and refining technologies aimed at improving recovery.
Ali Moshiri, president of ChevronTexaco Latin America Upstream, said: "Bringing this challenging upgrading unit into operation, as planned and on budget, is an exciting and significant achievement made possible through the excellent collaboration and teamwork between Petrolera Ameriven (operating agent for the partners), PDVSA (Venezuela's state oil company), ChevronTexaco and ConocoPhillips."
The massive effort during the upgrader construction required more than 40 million work hours and provided employment for more than 11,000 people during peak construction.
During the past three years, more than 50 million barrels of extra-heavy oil have been produced by blending it with a light crude supplied by PDVSA, allowing production levels to gradually increase to the current level of 120,000 barrels per day.
Currently celebrating its 125th anniversary, ChevronTexaco is the fifth- largest energy company in the world, based on market capitalization. With more than 50,000 employees, ChevronTexaco conducts business in approximately 180 countries around the world, producing and transporting crude oil and natural gas, and marketing and distributing fuels and other energy products. ChevronTexaco is based in San Ramon, Calif. More information on ChevronTexaco is available at www.chevrontexaco.com
Cautionary Statement Relevant to Forward-Looking Information for the Purpose of "Safe Harbor" Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Some of the items discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements about the Hamaca field relating to the size, expected production and future development activities at the field and its significance to ChevronTexaco Corporation's global upstream growth strategy. These statements are based on management's current expectations, estimates and projections. The statements included in this release are not guarantees. Actual outcomes and results could differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions. In this press release, we make a statement that more than 2 billion barrels of crude oil are expected to be produced and upgraded over the life of the Hamaca project. This estimate is based on reserve quantities that are not limited to proved reserves. The SEC guidelines strictly prohibit us from including this measure in filings with the SEC. U.S. investors should refer to disclosures in ChevronTexaco's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003.
/NOTE TO EDITORS: ChevronTexaco activities in Venezuela include
exploration, production, commercialization and marketing operations. Besides
its participation share in the Hamaca project, ChevronTexaco operates
Plataforma Deltana Blocks 2 and 3 and the Boscan and LL-652 fields in western
Venezuela. The company also has a national network of 84 Texaco service
stations, commercializes lubricants for vehicles and industrial clients, and
distributes jet fuel at the Arturo Michelena International Airport in
Valencia. Through Chevron Oronite Latin America, the company holds a strategic
alliance with Deltaven (a PDVSA company) to supply 80 percent of Deltaven's
requirements for lubricant additives. ChevronTexaco headquarters for Latin
America are located in Caracas, and a high percentage of its personnel in
Venezuela are Venezuelan citizens who support the company operations all
across the region./
CONTACT:
Stan Luckoski, San Ramon, Calif., +1-925-842-2589, or
Monica Davila, Caracas, Venezuela, + 58 (212) 902-5488,
both of ChevronTexaco
Web site: http://www.chevrontexaco.com
(CVX)
SOURCE ChevronTexaco Corp.
08/25/2004