Benton Raises $15 Million for Venezuelan Oil Fields
- Share via
Benton Oil & Gas Co., an Oxnard energy concern, said it has closed $15 million of the $20 million in project debt financing it hopes to raise for its Venezuelan joint venture.
Benton-Vinccler is equally owned by Benton and Vinccler C.A. It is reactivating and developing three oil fields in eastern Venezuela. The jointly owned company is solely responsible for repayment of the debt from cash generated from operations of the oil fields, Benton said.
The debt is in the form of a commercial paper program sponsored by Interunion Bank (Antilles) N.V., which is owned by Banco Latino C.A. of Caracas and an affiliate of ING Bank of the Netherlands.
Benton said the money would be used to repay a $7 million bridge loan from Banco Latino and to develop wells.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
The latest effort is coming from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. They just announced a $3 million program in conjunction with some nonprofits groups to test and clean the soil at homes still standing in the areas impacted by the Eaton Fire.
California once bet big on offshore wind to help power its clean-energy future, but the Trump administration is now paying developers billions to walk away from their projects. As California’s remaining offshore-wind leases hang in the balance, the state is fighting back in court.
The Hillside Strangler murders terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The killers were a pair of sadistic cousins. One confessed. The other was set to stand trial—until L.A. prosecutors flinched.
