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Venezuela Natural Gas and Petrochemicals
Venezuela also possessed vast reserves of natural gas.
Proven
gas reserves reached an estimated 3 trillion cubic meters
in
1989, the second greatest proven reserves in the Western
Hemisphere after the United States. At current rates of
extraction, proven gas reserves could meet domestic needs
into
the twenty-second century. In the late 1980s, the country
produced roughly 22 billion cubic meters of gas a year,
most of
which was used to meet domestic energy needs.
The natural gas industry increased in importance during
the
1980s as oil prices declined, as more households received
piped
gas, as gas-intensive heavy industries came on-stream, and
as
liberalization of foreign investment rapidly expanded the
potential of the petrochemical industry. Natural gas
effectively
became the property of the state under the Hydrocarbons
Reversion
Law of 1971, at which time the state-owned CVP oversaw
exploration. A major effort to expand consumer sales of
gas in
the late 1980s involved gas pipeline construction to
provide gas
to households. Gas also fueled some of the industries in
the
mining sector.
Venezuelan Petrochemicals (Petroquímicas de Venezuela--
Pequiven), a PDVSA subsidiary established in 1977, oversaw
petrochemical development. Pequiven's forerunner
institution, the
Venezuelan Petrochemical Institute (Instituto Venezolano
de
Petroquímicas--IVP), was established in 1956. A source of
corruption and political patronage, the IVP was
reorganized in
1977 in a controversial decision to bring it within
PDVSA's
nascent structure. The new Pequiven proved successful
under
PDVSA's guidance, registering its first profit in 1983.
Pequiven
extended its profits as petrochemical production more than
quadrupled from 1979 to 1988, from 540,000 to 2.3 million
tons.
In 1990 Pequiven consisted of four major subsidiaries
and
sixteen associated companies. Numerous joint ventures with
multinational firms, however, were slated to begin in the
mid1990s . The three major petrochemical complexes in
Venezuela were
at El Tablazo in Zulia, Morón in Carabobo, and José in
Anzoátegui. El Tablazo, traditionally the largest complex,
produced ammonia, urea, polystyrene, ethylene, and
propylene. The
Morón plant, the site of the country's first commercial
fertilizer production, also fabricated chlorine, caustic
soda,
and sulfuric acid, all used in heavy industry. The complex
in
Anzoátegui was scheduled to manufacture liquefied natural
gas,
methanol, and methyl-tertiary butyl ether (MTBE),
primarily for
export. Among the three complexes, the country also
produced
pesticides, insecticides, resins, explosives, aromatics,
and
ethane dichloride and other chemicals. As of 1990, a
fourth
petrochemical complex in Paraguana in the state of Falcón
was
also anticipated.
Data as of December 1990
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