Venezuela Oil Exports Fall 9% to 1.08 Million Bpd on Freight Costs

Oilprice.com·1 Oct 2026·

·Read original

3▲1 ▼0Impact / 5

Commodity Macro Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels

CVX ▲

Summary · why it matters

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 chewed 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, with shipments rising to 629,000 bpd from 553,000 bpd in August, while India fell to 253,000 bpd from 297,000 bpd and European purchases plunged to 86,000 bpd from 260,000 bpd. Chevron shipped about 283,000 bpd, roughly unchanged from August, and trading firms moved 637,000 bpd, up from 597,000 bpd. The figures landed as more than 250 companies descended on Caracas for Venezuela's next round of oil development, with Chevron pledging more than $7 billion over five years to more than double its Venezuelan production to roughly 600,000 bpd, and Rystad Energy estimating Venezuelan production could reach 1.6 million bpd by 2028 and 1.8 million bpd by 2030, though the country had just two active drilling rigs as of August against an estimated need for around 50 rigs by 2028 and nearly 80 by 2030.

Chevron Corp ▲