/Reuters Agency
Venezuela’s oil exports averaged 1.09 million barrels per day (bpd) in September 2025, the highest monthly level since February 2020, according to shipping data and documents from the state-owned company PDVSA.
The country has struggled to stabilize crude production and shipments since it was subjected to sanctions by the United States in 2019, but the increase in oil production, the sale of accumulated inventories, and a greater inflow of diluents used to produce exportable crude grades boosted activity last month.
The September average was 13% higher than the previous month and increased 39% compared to the same month last year.
Approximately 84% of last month’s total exports went directly and indirectly to China, which remained the main destination for Venezuelan crude, transported by little-known intermediaries that have been marketing the country’s oil since sanctions were imposed.
A license granted in late July by the government of US President Donald Trump to Chevron has also allowed for increased shipments in recent months, with 108,000 barrels per day of Venezuelan crude moved by the US oil company to the United States in September, up from 60,000 barrels per day recorded in August.
In the second quarter, when the Trump government temporarily suspended all licenses for foreign energy producers to operate in Venezuela, oil exports fell, forcing the accumulation of crude inventories in the country’s main producing region, the Orinoco Belt. Not all licenses have been reinstated.
PDVSA has been draining those inventories since August, while securing imports of heavy naphtha and light crude – essential for diluting the extra-heavy crude of the OPEC member country – from allies like Russia and China.
Total diluent imports fell to about 41,000 barrels per day in September, from 99,000 barrels per day the previous month.
However, Venezuela has slightly increased purchases of heavy naphtha and light crude this year, especially from Russia, raising the cumulative average through September to about 92,000 barrels per day, compared to 88,000 barrels per day in the same period last year.
The South American country also exported 52,000 barrels per day of crude and fuel to its political ally Cuba last month, along with 74,000 metric tons of methanol and oil by-products to Europe.
Venezuela reported to OPEC a crude oil production of 1.1 million barrels per day in August, up from 1.08 million the previous month and the highest level since February 2019.
