International sanctions that restrict oil production and trade in Venezuela cause a loss of up to $30 per barrel in the sale of Venezuelan oil.
Reinaldo Quintero, President of the Venezuelan Chamber of Petroleum Companies (CPV), states that Venezuela, which has been unable to sell oil to the Americas and Europe due to the sanctions, has turned to the Asian market and has cut the price of approximately 17 dollars per barrel to sell the oil in its hands.
Speaking to VOA Turkish, Quintero said, “Today, Venezuela pays 6-7 times the market price for the supply of the crew and equipment it needs to extract and process oil. In order to sell oil, it both incurs additional transportation costs and has to lower the price. In addition, he pays about 30 percent commission to the intermediaries in order to get the money for the oil he sells after the sale.”
Noting that Venezuela is currently exporting 800-900 thousand barrels of crude oil per day, with the addition of oil reserves that have accumulated in its warehouses for a while, Quintero says that according to this calculation, Venezuela’s loss in oil trade may be over $24 million a day.
“Daily production is 860 thousand, capacity is 1 million barrels”
Stating that as of today, an average of 860 thousand barrels of oil is extracted in Venezuela, the CPV official notes that the maximum production capacity is 1 million barrels.
Quintero attributes 1 million of the 2 million barrels of loss experienced in the last 9 years to the international sanctions that started in 2017 and became tougher in 2019, and the remaining 1 million barrels to the mismanagement of the state oil company PDVSA.
Experts note that with the partial or complete removal of the sanctions and an investment of 8-10 billion dollars, Venezuela may be able to export 1 million barrels of oil a day by the end of next year, but the way to do this is to solve the political problems.
After Washington gave permission for US and European oil companies to negotiate with the government to resume their operations in Venezuela in recent weeks, experts report that oil production could reach 1.2 million barrels a day by the end of the year if the relevant oil companies start their activities.