The celebration, held in El Tigre, Venezuela, marked the first phase of production with a reception, plaque unveiling, and a tour of the field.
Current production at the Hamaca Field is 30,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd), 8.5 degree API gravity crude oil. The oil is blended with lighter crudes and sold on the international market.
Production from the Hamaca Project will be significantly enhanced when an upgrade unit, currently under construction at the Jose Industrial Complex on the northern coast of Venezuela, is brought on-stream in early 2004.
When Hamaca’s heavy crude is processed through the new unit, it will be upgraded to a lighter 26-degree API crude. At peak field production of 190,000 bopd, the upgrading process will yield 180,000 bopd of 26-degree API crude.
“Hamaca is an important component of our worldwide upstream portfolio, which will contribute to the long-term growth of ChevronTexaco over the 34 years of the project,” said Peter Robertson, president of ChevronTexaco Overseas Petroleum.
Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt contains the largest known hydrocarbon deposit in the world. The Hamaca Project, encompassing 657 square kilometers, is estimated to contain over 30 billion barrels of oil, of which 2.1 billion barrels can be produced from the reservoir over the project’s 34-year life span.“Bringing this challenging field into operation on time and on budget is an exciting and significant achievement, made possible through excellent teamwork between Petrolera Ameriven (operating agent for the partners), ChevronTexaco, PDVSA, and Phillips Petroleum,” said Ali Moshiri, managing director of Latin America for ChevronTexaco. “We are pleased that Hamaca production is on-stream, delivering its benefits to our investors and to the Venezuelan communities in which we operate,” Moshiri added.
Construction activities at Hamaca began in August 2000 when ChevronTexaco and its partners authorized contract awards valued at more than (U.S.) $1 billion for the construction of the upgrading facilities at Jose, Venezuela. The Hamaca partners secured $1.1 billion in project financing in June 2001.
Note to Editors:
Partners in the Hamaca Producing and Upgrading Project are the local subsidiary operating companies of:
ChevronTexaco 30 percent
Petróleos de Venezuela S. A. (PDVSA) 30 percent
Phillips Petroleum Company 40 percent
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. These 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.
Also, there is reference in this release to the Hamaca Project area containing 30 billion barrels of oil, of which 2.1 billion are recoverable during the Project's 34-year life. This estimate is based on reserve quantities that are not limited to “proved reserves.” This is in contrast to reporting and discussions of reserve quantities in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Reporting and discussions of reserve quantities in filings with the SEC is limited to “proved reserves” -- quantities of oil and gas reserves that the company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions. Ultimate recovery of oil and gas quantities could differ materially from estimates.