Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pledged Tuesday, in a speech to parliament, to soon increase the country’s daily oil production to 1.5 million barrels, which currently barely exceeds 400,000 barrels.
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“We are ready (…) to reach the target of 1.5 million barrels in the coming months”, declared the socialist president, who presented before the National Assembly, unicameral parliament of Venezuela, his annual report of management.
When Mr. Maduro came to power in 2013, domestic production exceeded 3 million barrels / day (mbd).
According to the latest report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Venezuela, which has the largest oil reserves in the world, currently produces just over 400,000 mbd, which was its level during the 1930s. and 1940.
Venezuelan supply, which was already in sharp decline due to mismanagement and massive corruption, experts said, ended up collapsing with the US imposition of harsh sanctions aimed at provoking the fall of Nicolas Maduro, unrecognized by Washington who qualifies him as “dictator”.
In his speech on Tuesday, Maduro said that “losses for Venezuela solely due to the fall in oil production” have exceeded $ 100 billion since 2015. He blamed US financial sanctions.
This drop in production has exacerbated Venezuela’s economic crisis, with hyperinflation and seven years of recession. It even caused a severe shortage of gasoline in the country, particularly in the provinces.