CARACAS: Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has offered to buy Harvest Natural Resources Inc’s stake in the Petrodelta joint venture, according to a source close to PDVSA, but the Texas-based oil and gas producer later said no “fair” proposal had been made.
The news pushed Harvest shares up 129 percent by the close, their highest since December, on the apparent hope the financially troubled company might be on the brink of finally exiting the country.
However, Harvest said in a statement later on Tuesday that the talks “have not led to any offer or terms that would be remotely fair and equitable to Harvest’s shareholders, and PDVSA has been so advised.”
The source declined to comment on the terms, but defended the proposal.
“The offer by PDVSA last week was in a fair range to settle the deal taking into consideration today’s oil prices,” he said.
Petrodelta, located in Venezuela’s northeast, produces around 42,853 barrels per day, according to Harvest’s 2014 results.
Venezuela has twice blocked Harvest, which says on its website that it holds 32 percent of Petrodelta, from selling its stake. It is unclear if PDVSA will make another offer.
In 2013, a Harvest deal to sell its stake to Indonesian oil company Pertamina PT was rejected by the government, and a similar attempt that year to sell to a unit of Argentina’s Pluspetrol was also blocked.
The company repeated on Tuesday that it will seek arbitration if talks with Venezuela do not lead to a “fair and equitable solution.”
Vietnam’s state oil and gas group PetroVietnam is considering selling its 40 percent stake in a joint venture with PDVSA, two sources said last month.
