Just days after the administration of President Joe Biden made the decision to allow the US oil major Chevron to return the Venezuela to add its technical weight to the boosting of the country’s oil industry, the authorities in Caracas announced last week that the country’s oil exports had moved above that of the previous month though overall production still remained anchored below the 2021 average.
Last month the country’s oil exports amounted to 619,300 barrels, a small amount when compared to the halcyon days of oil exports by the country reportedly possessing the largest known deposits of oil anywhere in the world.
The November export volume figure reflected an immediate improvement in the performance of the sector as a resumption of shipments to Europe marked a sharp departure from the comparable trickle of the immediately preceding period. The recommencement of operations by the country’s oil processing plants also contributed to the lifting of the country’s oil sales by 16 per cent over October, according to reports from the sector.
The expectation is that the green-lighting by Washington for Chevron to return to Venezuela will now witness a steady rise in the country’s oil exports in the months ahead. Washington’s sanctions-lifting decision came on the back of an agreement reached with the administration of President Nicolas Maduro to resume talks with the country’s political opposition.
Under the agreement the multinational energy company, Eni SpA, another foreign company partnering with the Venezuelan state-owned PVVSA, received a total of 1.85 million barrels of unrefined oil in November which is the equivalent of two shipments of crude in November, an amount that represented debt repayment.
Venezuelan exports also reportedly benefitted from the recommencement of the crude oil upgrader exercise between PDVSA and Chevron at their joint venture in the Orinoco, the location of huge deposits of Venezuelan heavy crude.
Venezuela’s recent crude oil production figure which had also been undermined by power outages and a shortage of diluents for its heavy crude has realised a sales increase in November.
While representatives of both the Maduro administration and the political opposition had met in Mexico last month to discuss the agreed restart of political talks, up to a few days ago no date had been announced for the start of the dialogue.