Venezuela’s state-run oil production and refining were operating normally yesterday and suffered no damage from a US strike to extract the country’s president, two sources with knowledge of the operations of energy company PDVSA said.
US forces captured President Nicolas Maduro, US President Donald Trump said, after months of pressuring him over accusations of drug-running and illegitimacy in power.
The port of La Guaira near Caracas, one of the country’s largest but one not used for oil exports, was reported to have suffered severe damage, one of the sources said.
Trump in December announced a blockade of oil tankers entering or leaving the country and the US seized two cargoes of Venezuelan oil.
That lowered the Opec country’s exports last month to about half of the 950,000 barrels per day (bpd) it shipped in November, according to monitoring data and internal documents.
The US measures prompted many vessel owners to divert away from Venezuelan waters, which has rapidly increased PDVSA’s inventories of crude and fuel.
PDVSA has been forced to slow down deliveries at ports and store oil on tankers to avoid crude output or refining cut-backs.
PDVSA’s administrative system also has not fully recovered from a cyberattack in December that forced it to isolate terminals, oilfields and refineries from its central system and to resort to written records to continue operations.
Following are some key facts about the oil industry of Venezuela, whose President Nicolas Maduro was captured by US forces on Saturday, according to US President Donald Trump.
RESERVES
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves but its crude output remains at a fraction of capacity due to mismanagement, lack of investment and sanctions, official data shows.
Venezuela holds about 17% of global reserves or 303 billion barrels, ahead of OPEC leader Saudi Arabia, according to the London-based Energy Institute.
Its reserves are made up mostly of heavy oil in Orinoco in central Venezuela, making its crude expensive to produce, but technically relatively simple, according to the U.S. government’s energy department.
PRODUCTION
Venezuela was a founding member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) with Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and was producing as much as 3.5 million barrels per day in the 1970s, which at the time represented over 7% of global oil output.
Production fell below 2 million bpd during 2010s and averaged some 1.1 million bpd last year.
“If developments ultimately lead to a genuine regime change, this could even result in more oil on the market over time. However, it will take time for production to recover fully,” said Arne Lohmann Rasmussen from Global Risk Management.
If regime change is successful, Venezuela’s exports could grow as sanctions are lifted and foreign investment returns, said MST Marquee analyst Saul Kavonic.
“History shows that forced regime change rarely stabilises oil supply quickly, with Libya and Iraq offering clear and sobering precedents,” said Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy.
JOINT VENTURES
Venezuela nationalised its oil industry in the 1970s, creating Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA).
During the 1990s, Venezuela took steps to open the sector to foreign investment. Following the election of Hugo Chavez in 1999, Venezuela mandated majority PDVSA ownership of all oil projects.
PDVSA set up ventures in the hope of boosting production, including with Chevron, China National Petroleum Corporation, ENI, Total and Russia’s Rosneft.
EXPORTS, REFINING
The United States used to be the main buyer of Venezuelan oil but since the introduction of sanctions, China has become the main destination in the last decade.
Exports have stopped since Trump announced a blockade of all vessels entering or leaving the country in December 2025.
PDVSA also owns significant refining capacity outside the country, including CITGO in the United States, but creditors are battling to gain control of it through longstanding legal cases in U.S. courts.
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