Venezuela's Oil Sector
Sanctions, PDVSA, and Implications for India
Venezuela holds the world's largest proven crude oil reserves (approximately 303 billion barrels as per OPEC data), but production has collapsed from over 3 mbd in the late 1990s to approximately 800–900 kbd by 2024-25, due to mismanagement, underinvestment, and US sanctions on PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. — the state oil company). The US has periodically eased sanctions to allow third-country purchases — and India has benefited from such waivers — but the sanctions risk remains a constant overhang on sustained supply relationships.
- Venezuela: founding member of OPEC (1960), currently active OPEC member.
- PDVSA: Venezuela's state-owned oil company, incorporated 1976 following the nationalisation of the petroleum industry; US sanctions on PDVSA imposed from 2019 onwards under Executive Order 13850.
- Merey crude: Venezuela's primary heavy crude export grade; API gravity approximately 16°; requires processing by refiners with coking or deep conversion units.
- India-Venezuela oil trade route: Venezuelan crude shipped via the Atlantic, around the Cape of Good Hope or through the Panama Canal — significantly longer and more expensive than Gulf route.
- The US has conditioned aspects of the India-US trade deal on India reducing Russian oil purchases; Venezuela purchases partially satisfy India's diversification optics without fully substituting Russian volumes.
● Tracked since March 14, 2026 · last seen May 06, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes
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