Venezuela Oil Production

The largest reserves, mostly extra-heavy oil

Most of Venezuela's reserves lie in the Orinoco Belt, a band of extra-heavy, high-sulphur crude north of the Orinoco River. The barrels are large in number but expensive to produce: the oil is too thick to flow on its own, so it must be mixed with a light diluent such as naphtha, or upgraded, before it can be piped and shipped. The main export blend is Merey 16, named after its gravity of about 16° API (see API gravity). Merey is Venezuela's component in the OPEC Reference Basket; it averaged $59.42 per barrel in 2025 and $67.36 in July 2026, well below lighter grades.

Venezuela's dependence on imported diluent explains much of its recent history. When sanctions cut off US naphtha, Iran supplied it in 2020–2023, and every change in US licences has quickly changed how much heavy crude Venezuela could move.

From 3 million b/d to collapse: PDVSA

State oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state's largest source of revenue, pumped close to 3 million b/d around 2000. Output then declined after a 2002–2003 strike led to mass dismissals of skilled staff, and the government took majority control of foreign-run Orinoco projects in 2007. Revenue was spent rather than reinvested, and fields, upgraders and its five refineries (1.46 million b/d nameplate capacity) deteriorated. The EIA calculated that 2023 production was about 70% below 2013. US sanctions from 2017 then cut access to finance, diluent and the US market, and output fell to 569,000 b/d in 2020.

US sanctions and licences: a timeline

2026: Maduro's removal and the reopening

In December 2025 the US blockaded sanctioned tankers serving Venezuela and seized cargoes, and exports fell. On 3 January 2026 US forces struck Caracas and captured Nicolás Maduro, who was flown to New York to face charges. PDVSA sources told Reuters that oil fields and refineries were not damaged. Delcy Rodríguez became acting president, and the US moved from sanctions to managed licences: buyers now pay into accounts controlled by the US Treasury. In January the National Assembly approved a reform of the hydrocarbons law that lets private and foreign companies operate fields and market their own crude, ending PDVSA's export monopoly.

The effect showed quickly in OPEC data: output rose from 823,000 b/d in January 2026 to 1,117,000 b/d in July. Exports turned towards the United States and India; India took about 283,000 b/d of Venezuelan crude in April 2026, according to Kpler data cited by OPEC. In 2023, by contrast, around 69% of exports had gone to China, much of it via Malaysia and Singapore. Venezuela's heavy crude competes directly with Canadian and Mexican heavy grades in US Gulf Coast refineries; see Western Canadian Select.

Venezuela in OPEC

Venezuela is a founding member of OPEC (1960), but it has had no production quota since January 2019. Along with Iran and Libya, it is exempt from OPEC+ production targets, so its recovery adds supply outside the group's agreements. A sustained rise would increase supply of heavy, sour crude in the Atlantic Basin, which tends to narrow the discount of heavy grades to Brent rather than move Brent itself. For the wider picture, see what moves oil prices and the top oil producing countries. Venezuela also claims much of neighbouring Guyana, including waters near the Stabroek oil block, a dispute now before the International Court of Justice.