Įarly in 2014, the new Maduro government, seeking to strengthen its grip on power, oversaw a violent campaign of internal political persecution against the ministry of petroleum and PDVSA, the core of Venezuela’s economic power. Out of the latter, 141.29 billion US dollars went to different government funds like the National Development Fund (FONDEN), the Chinese Fund (Fondo Chino) and the Infrastructure Fund, among others. This included 480 billion from the Fiscal Regime (taxes, royalties and special contributions) and 233.99 billion employed for social programmes called “Missions”. It was classified by the Petroleum Weekly Report as the fifth most influential oil company in the world in 2013.īetween 2004–2013, oil revenue reached 700 billion US dollars, equivalent to 96 per cent of export income for the country.
At the same time, PDVSA maintained 231 billion US dollars in assets, plants and equipment, 84 billion in equity and yielded 12 billion in profits. According to PDVSA’s audited financial report, at the end of 2013, Venezuela produced 3.02 million barrels per day of crude oil and 1.2 million barrels a day of fuel were processed in the national refinery system. Until 2013, PDVSA had a solid reputation as one of the stronger national oil companies in the world.
With the economy in tatters and living standards collapsing, present conditions are made even more striking given that Venezuela was certified to have the world’s largest proven oil reserves between 2007–2011, standing at 316 billion barrels. While the oil sector also suffered from the global collapse of oil prices starting in 2014, the policies implements by the Maduro government have further accelerated the decline. This decline is unprecedented in the history of any oil-producing country that has not suffered a depletion of reservoirs, war or internal armed conflict. This is equivalent to a drop of 2.49 million barrels per day, or a 82.9 per cent decline in oil production capacity compared to 2013 levels.
The last report by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) shows that Venezuela produced only 527 thousand barrels of oil per day in September 2021. Seven years of mismanagement and political purges, the dismantling of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.’s (PDVSA) managerial structures and deviations in longstanding company policy implemented by the government of Nicolás Maduro since 2014 have undermined the sector and destabilised the national economy. Venezuela’s hydrocarbons industry has completely collapsed.
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