A view of the PDVSA headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela. Photo: Federico Parra/AFP.
Venezuela reported an average production of 820,000 barrels of crude oil per day during last August to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). This level of production would reflect 10,000 more than in the previous month, according to an OPEC report released on Tuesday.
According to direct data provided by Venezuela to OPEC, the figure was slightly above the data reported in May, when it averaged 819,000 bpd, despite the illegal US and European Union sanctions.
The August figures from Venezuela’s direct communication with OPEC differ from those released by the organization through “secondary sources” (estimates from independent institutes), which report that the South American nation’s production averaged 730,000 barrels per day. These discrepancies between primary and secondary sources are frequent and expected.
In both scenarios, the figures are above the performance of oil production in previous years, which, according to direct communication, was around 636,000 barrels per day in 2021 and 716,000 barrels per day in 2022.
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Oil exports have traditionally been the main source of foreign currency income for Venezuela; however, its industry went through several notable setbacks in hydrocarbon production after the tightening of US sanctions that began in 2015 and tightened significantly in 2019, along with corruption scandals that have plagued the industry.
Venezuela’s authorities have attributed the setback to the effects of sanctions applied by the United States against publicly-owned petroleum company PetrĂłleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA).
(Ăšltimas Noticias)Â with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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