Venezuela’s state oil firm PDVSA has recently boosted its crude oil blending operations to a six-month high after some upgraders came back online, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing PDVSA documents it had seen. The so-called upgraders are used for blending Venezuela’s super-heavy crude to make it flow and ready for exporting. According to one PDVSA document seen by Reuters, the Petropiar upgrader, part of a venture with Chevron, produced 115,000 barrels of Hamaca crude on Tuesday. Another upgrader, Sinovensa in partnership with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), produced 158,000 barrels of Merey crude on that day. It was unclear how long PDVSA could sustain the upgraders operational amid a lack of maintenance and investment, as well as operational issues such as power outages. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s crude and fuel exports hit 690,000 barrels per day (bpd) in September, Reuters reported last week, citing data from PDVSA and Refinitiv Eikon. This […]