Venezuela Oil Output ‘Not Affected’ By Quakes — President

Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, said Monday that the country’s oil production was “not affected” by the double earthquakes that killed more than 4,500 people last month.

Rodriguez said that Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven reserves of crude, was pumping 1.2 million barrels per day — up around 10 percent in a year — and that the government remained confident of strong growth this year.

Crude oil production, the country’s main source of revenue, is concentrated in Lake Maracaibo in the northwest and the Orinoco Belt in the east.

The area worst-hit on June 24 by the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes — the northern coastal state of La Guaira and nearby capital of Caracas — are situated between the two regions.

Venezuela’s oil production tanked over the last two decades, falling from over 3 million barrels per day in the early 2000s to a low of 350,000 in 2020 on the back of years of corruption and mismanagement.

Under pressure from Washington, Rodriguez, a former oil minister who took over as leader in January after the US overthrow of socialist president Nicolas Maduro, pushed through a major reform of the sector to boost foreign investment.

The reforms roll back two decades of state control over the sector.