The production of crude by Venezuela’s state-owned PDVSA and its partners in the Orinoco Belt fell to 235,000 b/d, or 18% of the region’s maximum 1.3 million b/d capacity, on May 26, due to storage limitations and the lack of light crude to dilute the region’s extra heavy crudes, according to a technical report reviewed by S&P Global Platts. It was the lowest production level registered for the Orinoco Belt since September 2019, when output dropped to 233,000 b/d owing to massive power blackouts in Venezuela. The April average output was at 390,000 b/d. On April 28, a high voltage electrical failure caused an oil spill in […]