CARACAS, WILLEMSTAD - The Venezuelan Minister of Energy Manuel Quevedo, who is also the President of Petroleos Venezuela informed the government of Curaçao that PdVSA wants to stay a year longer in Curaçao. They want to continue operating the refinery after December 31, 2019 when the contract expires.

For the time being, Curaçao's position is that this offer will not be accepted, because agreements have been made with the American Klesch Group on exclusive negotiations for the takeover of the exploitation of Isla. But the US sanctions against Venezuela / PdVSA also makes it impossible to do further business with the oil company.