Venezuela, the former energy power that supplied fuel to almost the entire West, is once again out of gasoline. The inconveniences are not felt in Caracas, but they are widespread in several federal entities in the interior of the country, particularly in the towns of the west. Service stations that are not closed organize users according to the digits on the license plate. This is what happens in the Andean towns of Mérida, in Zulia, in the plains regions of Barinas, Cojedes and Portuguesa, in Barquisimeto, in Puerto Ordaz and Ciudad Bolívar. Agricultural production has one of its classic headaches in this chronic failure.
The causes seem circumstantial, although they reveal the serious deficiencies of the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) in the maintenance of its refineries and the management of poorly qualified personnel in its structures, a circumstance aggravated by international sanctions. A Greek-flagged cargo ship from Iran was delayed with the fuel that Venezuela was waiting for. Although it has recovered part of its production of crude oil and derivatives, it is still unable to supply its internal market on its own.
Any delay in the arrival of imported fuel causes serious shocks. In this instability, fixing faults that break down again, the State has spent a few years. It also happens with light. After the productive collapse between 2014 and 2019, during the presidency of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela has been fighting since 2021 to recover its oil production. This currently averages just over 800,000 barrels per day, far from its historical average, close to three million.
Very recently, supported by individual licenses provided by the United States Treasury Office, the Spanish energy company Repsol announced investments in new oil and gas fields, which could increase production by an additional 200,000 barrels by the end of the year. Some economists consider it feasible that the country will reach one million barrels per day by the end of 2024.
In addition to Repsol, the American Chevron, the French Murel & Prom and the Italian Eni, along with 20 other companies and contractors, maintain investments and projects in the country. The majority are medium spectrum, dedicated to well maintenance and overdue collections.
Local production has registered some improvements with the efforts of PDVSA, chaired by Pedro Tellechea. Before Chavismo, the company was capable of taking care of the production chain alone: exploration, production, refining and export of national crude oil and its derivatives.
![Bottles full of gasoline from a man who has emptied his tank to sell the fuel, in San Cristóbal, in April 2022.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/SY5CJ4JQSFF3LGDEG6NED57J3Y.jpg?auth=1a38a02ffd4b69c43affb70885ef58c59687bed44eb95c4a55c504d3d0f8aaa0&width=414)
Rafael Quirós, an economist focused on the industry and academic at the Central University of Venezuela, explains: “The majority of the international oil companies that are in the country want to stay, although they all know that they will not go very far nor will they be able to do much while they are there.” Nicolás Maduro remains in power.” And he adds: “They are left hoping that things will one day change, that they can invest in other terms. In the meantime, they will make maintenance investments.”
Neighboring Guyana is currently attracting million-dollar investments from multinational oil companies that the Venezuelan revolutionary leadership has been inviting for years to invest. But at the same time, it scares it away with hostile procedures against private capital.
![A ship carries materials to an ExxonMobil oil platform in April 2023.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/7PY4UHE7JNGRJADJ2676IB6F6Q.jpg?auth=cde23445d6e5b743adcf415def52c087f2f664d8ccb883f99b774fd505029575&width=414)
Several factors come together in the production crisis: the overpoliticization of its objectives, the swelling of its payroll, excessive corruption and the incorporation of businesses other than oil. In addition to the difficulties currently imposed by international sanctions, there is a fundamental problem in the lack of maintenance. The liabilities accumulated over the past decade.
The refinery park, one of the largest in the world, has been damaged despite the fact that the Government has made enormous efforts to partially repair it with the help of Iran. It is common for them to be repaired, their reopening is announced, they start working and a new breakdown occurs.
Accidents, fires and spills with ecological damage have been common in this decade. One of the most famous was the explosion of the Amuay refinery in 2010, which unleashed a huge scandal and caused numerous deaths and enormous damage to surrounding towns.
A legislative commission – headed by the then opposition representative María Corina Machado – was determined to attend Amuay, six hours from Caracas, in order to investigate the causes of the accident, accusing the Government of negligence and lack of maintenance. It was Diosdado Cabello, then president of the Legislative Branch, who refused to let the investigation take place, clinging to the thesis of sabotage. Something that he managed to approve with the parliamentary majority at that time.
Cabello himself recently dedicated himself to briefly commenting on the serious problem of public services, something he has done occasionally at some rallies. “We don’t close our eyes, we have flaws. We are attacking them. What people have to think is that we would be much worse off if the right, the surnames, governed. The first thing they would do is privatize everything.”
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