A view of Venezuela's largest oil refinery complex, Paraguaná Refinery, at night. Photo: Diego Giudice/Bloomberg.
Venezuela produced 841,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) during January 2024, the Venezuelan Ministry of Petroleum informed the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
According to the official data, crude oil production in the first month of 2024 increased by 40,000 bpd, despite the unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States and the European Union.
This was the third consecutive month that Venezuela produced more than 800,000 bpd, since November 2023 when the figure reached 801,000 bpd, and the 802,000 bpd in December.
Venezuela closed 2023 with an average production of 783,000 bpd, an increase of 67,000 bpd from the 2022 average, according to the Ministry of Petroleum.
In the last quarter of 2023, Venezuelan oil production grew 12.99%, with an increase of 14.6% in the extraction of crude oil and natural gas.
The Venezuelan government’s projection for 2024 is to raise oil production to 1 million barrels per day, in addition to diversifying investments in other projects.
The United States has threatened to intensify its blockade policy starting from April, after it had provided some relaxations to the Venezuelan oil and mining sectors from October 2023.
(Ăšltimas Noticias) by VĂctor Lara
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
