Venezuela’s oil exports fell nearly 9% in September to 1.08 million barrels per day as soaring tanker costs forced traders to demand steeper discounts and delayed cargoes leaving the country.
Global trading houses, including Vitol and Trafigura, pressed PDVSA for better terms as freight costs chew into margins, and tanker reroutings added to shipping delays that had already accumulated over the summer.
The United States took more Venezuelan crude despite the overall decline. Shipments rose to 629,000 bpd from 553,000 bpd in August. India fell to 253,000 bpd from 297,000 bpd, while European purchases plunged to 86,000 bpd from 260,000 bpd.
Chevron shipped about 283,000 bpd, roughly unchanged from August. Trading firms moved 637,000 bpd, up from 597,000 bpd.
Venezuela produced about 1.2 million bpd in August, according to figures reported to OPEC. Crude inventories at the Jose export terminal declined only modestly in September from higher levels earlier this year.
Those numbers landed during a week when more than 250 companies descended on Caracas looking at Venezuela’s next round of oil development.
Chevron has pledged more than $7 billion over five years and wants to more than double its Venezuelan production to roughly 600,000 bpd. Eni, GeoPark and Continental Resources are among companies pursuing new or expanded projects.
Rystad Energy estimates Venezuelan production could reach 1.6 million bpd by 2028 and 1.8 million bpd by 2030.
But getting there will require a lot more hardware.
Venezuela had just two active drilling rigs as of August, yet Rystad estimates that around 50 rigs will be needed by 2028 and nearly 80 by 2030 to support that production trajectory.
The export system has its own bill. Traders already want bigger discounts to compensate for costly freight, and port congestion has delayed cargoes for months.
This post appeared first on https://oilprice.com