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Venezuela oil output set to take decades to return to peak
Rystad Energy expects production to rise from about 1 million barrels a day to above 3 million by 2050, with about $85 billion in investment needed from 2027 to 2040.
Venezuelan oil production is expected to take decades to return to its peak of more than 3 million barrels a day, even with a US-backed arrangement designed to boost near-term supply, according to Rystad Energy as cited by LiveMint Markets.
President Donald Trump said the US government will partner with private companies to gain access to 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves, with the US controlling 55% of the joint venture’s production and receiving oil at cost for use to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Venezuela currently produces about 1 million barrels per day, roughly one-third of its peak in the 1990s. Rystad expects incremental output to start from existing wells, rising from about 157,000 barrels a day in 2027 to 680,000 by 2030, with brownfield production reaching 740,000 daily barrels in the early-to-mid-2030s.
Rystad forecasts meaningful output from new exploration in the Orinoco oil belt beginning around 2035, reaching 840,000 barrels a day by 2040 and near 2 million by 2050, for total output of 2.3 million in 2035 and above 3 million by 2050. Rystad also said the plan would require about $85 billion of investment from 2027 to 2040, and warned that multi-decade contracts depend on political durability in Venezuela.