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C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT AU PRINCE 000234 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR 
WHA/EPSC FOR FAITH CORNEILLE, ED MARTINEZ 
EB/IFD 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR LAC/CAR 
TREASURY FOR JEFFEREY LEVINE 
COMMERCE FOR SCOTT SMITH 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/13/2018 
TAGS: ENRG EPET ECON POL EAID HA
SUBJECT: CHEVRON SIGNS PETROCARIBE AGREEMENT WITH GOH 
 
REF: A. 07 PORT AU PRINCE 1416 
 
     ¶B. 07 PORT AU PRINCE 1679 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Janet A. Sanderson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d 
). 
 
¶1. (C) Michael Lecorps, Director General for the Government 
of Haiti's (GoH) Office of Monetization within the Ministry 
of Finance, told Econoff on January 25 that Chevron signed a 
three-year contract the week of January 21 with the GoH under 
the PetroCaribe arrangement to purchase refined oil products 
produced by the Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA from 
the GoH through private sector oil traders.  (Note: The 
Office of Monetization, responsible for managing PetroCaribe 
in Haiti, was previously in the Ministry of Planning.  End 
note.)  Chevron also agreed to ship the refined petrol on one 
of its tankers.  The GoH expects to receive a PetroCaribe 
shipment in late February or early March.  The two other oil 
companies operating in Haiti, Total (French-owned) and Dynasa 
(a Haitian company) are still negotiating with the GoH. 
Patryck Peru-Dumesnil (protect), Chevron's Haiti Retail 
Manager, told Econoff on January 30 that he suspects Total 
will sign an agreement with the GoH soon, but finds it 
"strange" that Dynasa, a Haitian company, has not. (Note: As 
of March 1, ExxonMobil (Esso) will no longer operate in Haiti 
(Ref B).  End note.) 
 
¶2. (C) Peru-Dumesnil told Econoff that Chevron management in 
the U.S. does not want to make a lot of "noise" about the 
agreement because they do not want to appear to support 
PetroCaribe.  Peru-Dumesnil noted that Chevron has been 
experiencing some trouble with product delivery from PDVSA in 
and outside of Haiti.  Most recently, PDVSA suspended 
shipment of 'Premium' 95 oil because of problems at a 
refinery in Venezuela.  Peru-Dumesnil is not certain when 
PDVSA will resume shipment of the 'Premium' oil.  He also 
said that Venezuelan President Chavez has invested very 
little in the maintenance and improvement of PDVSA facilities 
while noting that PDVSA has decreased production by 28 
percent.  Peru-Dumesnil added that PDVSA's inefficiency is 
attributed to Chavez's dismissal of approximately 15,000 
PDVSA employees after the attempted coup in 2003.  He 
subsequently filled the vacancies with military and close 
friends with little or no competency in the oil industry.  He 
noted that the next three months would be "unpredictable". 
 
¶3. (C) Partially addressing Peru-Dumesnil's concern over 
PDVSA's ability to supply refined products under PetroCaribe, 
the GoH agreement allows Chevron and the other companies to 
purchase oil from another source in the event that PDVSA 
cannot supply the oil.  However, Peru-Dumesnil stressed that 
finding another source is difficult, requires considerable 
lead-time and would inevitably affect the cost of oil for the 
companies.  He explained that after almost two years of 
negotiating and educating the GoH on oil industry operations, 
Chevron finally obtained its desired terms from the GOH. 
However, the feasibility of the PetroCaribe scheme that 
inserts the GOH into the purchase and sales chain remains 
unproven.  PDVSA will sell to the GoH, which will then sell 
to private oil traders, who finally will sell to the oil 
companies in Haiti for distribution. 
SANDERSON 

=======================CABLE ENDS============================