Hydrocarbon storage tank at the joint venture Petromonagas, owned by PDVSA and Russia’s Petromost. Photo: PDVSA.
Guacamaya, April 17, 2025. Crude oil production rose to its highest level since February 2019, reaching 1,085,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to internal reports from PDVSA.
At the same time, Reuters reported an 11.5% drop in exports for the same month, though Venezuela’s Vice President and Minister of Hydrocarbons disputed this figure, claiming an 8.78% increase instead.
March was marked by orders from the Trump administration for U.S. and European energy companies to cease operations in Venezuela. However, production from their joint ventures has not yet been affected.
OPEC’s monthly report states that, according to secondary sources, production remained stable, going from 912,000 bpd in February to 911,000 bpd in March. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s Ministry of Hydrocarbons reported an increase from 1,025,000 bpd to 1,048,000 bpd.
The figures often differ depending on the data sources have access to, as well as whether imported diluents are subtracted from the final output. These diluents are necessary to blend with Venezuela’s characteristic extra-heavy crude and are largely purchased abroad.
OPEC as a whole recorded a production decline, primarily in Nigeria, Iraq, Libya, and the United Arab Emirates. In OPEC+, which includes 10 additional allies, the most significant change was Kazakhstan’s increase of 37,000 bpd.
