This represents a notable 9% increase compared to a month earlier and is nearly double the 434,000 barrels per day produced for the same period a year earlier.
A chronic shortage of diluent forced PDVSA from early 2019 to mix locally produced higher-value light sweet crude with the extra-heavy oil, produced in the Orinoco Belt, to formulate export heavy crude oil grades such as Merey.
During early September 2021, it was reported that CNPC was reviving its operations in Venezuela, where it participates in five heavy oil joint ventures with PDVSA, sending engineers and other resources to the crisis-riven country.
If PDVSA can maintain production at or near November’s level, then Caracas is well on its way to generating urgently required additional export income that can be directed to performing critical maintenance on infrastructure as well development.
For the first week of December 2021, PDVSA announced it had pumped an average of 930,000 barrels per day, just shy of the national oil company’s end of year target of one million barrels daily.
While the substantial increase in crude oil output for November has caught global energy markets and analysts by surprise, it is important to note that Venezuela’s oil output is still significantly lower than the 1.5 million barrels per day target set by Venezuela’s Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami at the start of 2021.
For as long as Washington’s current sanction regime remains in place PDVSA’s position will remain fragile, meaning the slightest glitch could trigger a massive setback causing crude oil output to fall.