The extraction of crude during 2022 has been irregular. Of the 871,000 bpd that PDVSA reported to OPEC in December 2021, by July 2022 production averaged 661,000 bpd. This means a 24% drop in oil production in the last eight months
President Nicolás Maduro visited the facilities of the José Antonio Anzoátegui Industrial Complex in the Petrocedeño mixed company, located in Anzoátegui state, to inaugurate a clinic and a dining room for the workers of the Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) subsidiary.
In the place, the president celebrated the “recovery” that PDVSA has achieved and postulated the company as a candidate to balance the world oil and gas market, which is currently facing a crisis due to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
He offered oil and gas to the European Union and the United States, with the promise that Venezuela “will always be there” to “help” the world with its energy products.
«I tell Europe, the European Union, Joe Biden, that Venezuela will always be here. Our gas and our oil are in order to stabilize the world. It is ready and prepared to export our products to all markets », he assured.
*Also read: PDVSA suspended shipments of crude oil due to debt to Europe
Maduro’s words, however, lack support, because his production share is rather falling. Despite the fact that he projected that for this year PDVSA would exceed the production of 2 million barrels per day (bpd), returning to levels that the state-owned company had before 2016.
Far from this projection, the extraction of crude during 2022 has been irregular. Of the 871,000 bpd that PDVSA reported to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in December 2021, by July 2022 production averaged 661,000 bpd, according to the information published by OPEC. This means a drop of 24% in the last eight months, quite the opposite of the 202% increase needed to reach the goal of 2 million.
Regarding gas, the Venezuelan Association of Gas Producers (AVPG) calculates that Venezuela produced about 4.7 billion standard cubic feet per day, 40% less than it produced in 2016. Recovering normal levels would require an investment of almost $20 billion in the coming years, something that seems unfeasible in the current context.
Knowing that the recovery of PDVSA is not what Chavismo promised, Maduro justified himself in the “persecution” that the national oil industry has suffered as a result of the sanctions implemented by the United States, but he also celebrated the presumed recovery – non-existent, at least in figures—and stressed that they will continue to increase production in the long term.
“The oil industry has persecuted us. They have not allowed us to grow what should grow, what will grow. We will get where we have to get, with our own effort, our own work, Venezuelan capacity », he insisted.
In this same tone, Maduro boasted about the recovery figures of the economy in the last year, although he omitted in his speech any explanation about the previous fall suffered by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Following a contraction of 80% the size of the economy in a decade, the rebounds are tiny compared to the decline. Once again, Maduro made it clear with his speeches that his management points towards the “economic miracle.”
«We have four quarters with growth above 17% of the real economy. It’s a record. It is the largest economic growth in the world in 2022. From now to 2030 and beyond, Venezuela is going to be the economic miracle of Latin America and the Caribbean », she maintained.
*Also read: BCV releases some figures: Venezuela has four continuous quarters of “growth”
Similarly, he exaggerated the possible commercial results of the reopening of the border with Colombia, assuring that this year could end with a binational exchange of $2,000 million, a conclusion he reached after meeting with the Colombian Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism. , German Umaña.
«Yesterday I met with Germán Umaña. We were talking about many topics of commercial exchange. Just with the opening of the border this year, it is estimated that we could reach $2,000 million in exchange between Venezuela and Colombia”, he stressed.
However, the projections that Umaña has released in recent weeks show possible results of $1,000 million as a result of the exchange of goods between the two countries, which is still a large number considering that 2021 closed with $397.7 million of trade.
In addition, the Chavista leader affirms that on this occasion Venezuela has a juicy exportable supply to Colombia, which would balance the trade balance that excessively favors the neighboring country, which sells its products to Venezuela but buys very few Venezuelan goods.
“Colombia will be selling its high-quality products and we will be selling our products because we have an exportable supply from Venezuela. It’s not like before, things have changed », he said.
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