• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 3 hours GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 6 days If hydrogen is the answer, you're asking the wrong question
  • 9 hours How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy
  • 10 days Biden's $2 trillion Plan for Insfrastructure and Jobs

Breaking News:

Oil Prices Gain 2% on Tightening Supply

New Bitcoin Whales Emerge in the Corporate World

New Bitcoin Whales Emerge in the Corporate World

MicroStrategy is the world's largest…

Is U.S. Shale Production Finally Nearing Its Peak?

Is U.S. Shale Production Finally Nearing Its Peak?

U.S. shale oil production could…

Gas Pipeline Explosion Cuts Venezuela Oil Production By 30,000 Bpd

A burst natural gas pipeline in Venezuela has forced PDVSA to cut light crude oil production by 30,000 bpd, Reuters has reported, noting that the explosion could also affect the production of the country’s most popular heavy grade, Merey 16.

The state oil company uses the light crude to dilute its extra heavy to make it more easily transportable.

A section of the pipeline, which transports associated gas from oil fields to a reinjection plant, exploded last Saturday, with the government blaming the explosion on a terrorist attack.

At the time, Reuters reported that PDVSA was forced to suspend operations at the reinjection plant to stop the fire and assess the damage.

Venezuela produced some 521,000 bpd of crude oil last month, according to the latest OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report. This was down from an average of 796,000 bpd for 2019 but higher than the average for 2020, which was 500,000 bpd.

The government in Caracas has pledged to boost production to as much as 1.5 million bpd this year. To that end, the Maduro regime is even ready to invite back foreign companies and end PDVSA’s monopoly of the Venezuelan oil industry.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, managers of foreign oil companies are already discussing their return to the country with the biggest oil reserves in the world.

Venezuela’s crude oil and refined product exports plummeted in 2020 to their lowest level in 77 years, as the U.S. continued to step up sanctions against Maduro’s regime and anyone found dealing with it. Last year, Venezuela’s oil exports plunged by 37.5 percent, reaching just 626,534 barrels per day (bpd)—the lowest level since the early 1940s.

ADVERTISEMENT

Much of Maduro’s turnaround plan depends on the lifting of U.S. sanctions, but the Biden administration has signaled that this would only happen if the government in Caracas takes some major steps towards reconciling its differences with the opposition.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:



Join the discussion | Back to homepage



Leave a comment
  • George Doolittle on March 25 2021 said:
    Absolutely why oil prices are plunging again today no doubt.

    No volatility in oil trading!
    Prices clearly going to a hundred us Buckys a barrel imminently!

Leave a comment

EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News