CARACAS: CARACAS: Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA is telling customers of its oil joint ventures to deposit sales proceeds at an account it recently opened at Russia’s Gazprombank AO, according to sources and an internal document seen by Reuters on Saturday.
PDVSA’s move follows tough, new US financial sanctions imposed on Jan. 28 and aimed at blocking leftist President Nicolas Maduro’s access to the country’s oil revenue. The United States and dozens of other nations have refused to recognize Maduro, characterizing his election last year to another six-year term as fraudulent.
Since then, PDVSA has been pressing its foreign partners at joint ventures in its Orinoco Belt producing area to formally decide whether they will continue in the projects, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks. The joint ventures’ partners include Norway’s Equinor ASA, US-based Chevron Corp. and France’s Total SA.
PDVSA also ordered its Petrocedeno joint venture with Equinor and Total to halt extra-heavy oil output and upgrading due to a lack of naphtha needed to dilute production, as sanctions prohibited US suppliers of the fuel from exporting it to Venezuela.
“We would like to make formal your knowledge of new banking instructions to make payments in US dollars or euros,” said PDVSA’s finance vice president, Fernando De Quintal, in a letter dated Feb. 8 to the PDVSA unit that supervises its joint ventures.
Even after a first round of financial sanctions in 2017, PDVSA’s joint ventures managed to keep bank accounts in the United States and Europe to receive oil-sales proceeds. They also used correspondent banks in the United States and some European nations to move money to PDVSA’s own collecting accounts in China.
PDVSA several weeks ago informed customers of the new bank directions and has begun moving the accounts of its joint ventures, which can export crude separately. The decision was made amid tension with some of its partners, which have withdrawn staff from Caracas since sanctions were imposed.
Venezuela shifts oil ventures’ accounts to Russia’s Gazprombank — document, sources
Venezuela shifts oil ventures’ accounts to Russia’s Gazprombank — document, sources
- The joint ventures foreign partners include Norway’s Equinor ASA, US-based Chevron Corp. and France’s Total SA
Indonesia to send record number of women officers to assist Hajj pilgrims
- Women comprise 33% of Indonesian Hajj officers in 2026
- They will assist the world’s largest contingent of Hajj pilgrims
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah on Friday concluded a training program for Hajj officers, a group that this year includes a record number of female guides to help Indonesian pilgrims perform the spiritual journey.
The world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation, Indonesia sends the largest contingent of Hajj pilgrims every year, comprising 221,000 people in 2026.
They will be assisted by more than 1,600 Indonesian officers who came from different parts of the country to participate in a 20-day training program in East Jakarta to prepare them for the roles, ahead of the pilgrimage season in May.
“Education and training for Indonesian Hajj officers … are carried out as part of the operational preparations for the 2026 Hajj pilgrimage,” said Puji Raharjo, director general of Hajj management at the ministry, during the closing ceremony on Friday.
“This program is aimed at ensuring the physical, mental, technical and organizational readiness of the officers in order to guide, serve and protect Indonesian Hajj pilgrims.”
Indonesia is sending more than 500 female Hajj officers in 2026 — its largest group of women guides yet.
“This year, women officers comprise about 33 percent, the highest in the history of Hajj management in Indonesia,” Arifatul Choiri Fauzi, the minister of women’s empowerment and child protection, told reporters.
As over 55 percent of Indonesian Hajj pilgrims are women and most of them are elderly, female officers can help ensure that they are treated with more care and empathy, she added.
Fauzi said: “There are many issues that are more suitable to be handled by female officers, things related to women’s issues, assistance inside the room, or emergencies that concern the privacy of the (women) pilgrims.”
The training program, which ran from Jan. 10-30, was aimed at preparing the officers physically and educating them on existing Hajj policies and mechanisms, while also covering operational case studies and lessons on effective communication and Arabic, as well as simulations of real-life situations related to the pilgrimage.
Indonesian Hajj officers will undergo a round of training online in February, before another session is held with reference to their departure locations in Indonesia.
“Every year, Indonesia sends the largest number of pilgrims in the world. This fact demands us to be truly ready and organized with officers who are dependable. Hajj officers fill a strategic role, you represent the state for the pilgrims, (and) you represent the state in front of the world,” Minister of Hajj and Umrah Mochamad Irfan Yusuf said while addressing this year’s batch of Hajj officers.
“This training and guidance program is therefore very important, as this is where you all prepare in order to understand the extent of your duties, strengthen coordination and come together in unity and discipline for the mission ahead.”
