Venezuela Cuts Output From Biggest Oil Region as Tanks Fill

  • Chevron, CNPC blending facilities at Jose complex are halted
  • Cap on production in effect until vessel arrives at oil port
A pump jack stands at a Petroleos de Venezuela facility in the Orinoco Belt of El Tigre, Venezuela.

Source: Bloomberg

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Venezuela’s state oil company has briefly cut output in the Orinoco Belt -- which accounts for about half of the nation’s total production -- to a maximum of 200,000 barrels a day after swelling inventories forced blending plants to shut.

Petroleos de Venezuela SA set a production limit at the extra-heavy crude area of the Orinoco, the country’s main producing region, including at partnerships with Chevron Corp., Rosneft Oil Co PJSC and China National Petroleum Corp., according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Operations at all the joint-venture upgraders and the Sinovensa blending facility have been halted for as much as a week, people said.