The cargo composition in April consisted of 89 percent crude oil, with the remaining 11 percent divided among intermediate products at 6 percent, residual fuel oil at 4 percent, and asphalt at 1 percent. Saudi Arabia supplied 421,000 bpd to the US in April while Mexico delivered 407,000 bpd. Only Canada exceeded Venezuela’s volumes with shipments exceeding 4.6 million bpd to US refiners.
The April volume nearly tripled the same month’s figure from 2025, reflecting a sharp acceleration in bilateral petroleum trade. For the January-April period of 2026, Venezuelan exports to the United States averaged 353,500 bpd, representing a 48 percent increase compared to the same four-month period in 2025.
PDVSA, the state oil company created by government decree in August 1975 following nationalization of the petroleum industry, holds the world’s largest certified oil reserves at 298.353 billion barrels as of end-2013, representing 20 percent of global reserves. The company operates the Paraguaná Refining Complex in Falcón state, the world’s second-largest refinery with 940,000 bpd processing capacity, alongside the Puerto La Cruz refinery at 200,000 bpd capacity and the El Palito facility processing 130,000 bpd.
The sustained export recovery comes as multiple oil companies compete for projects aimed at boosting Venezuelan production, though significant operational challenges persist across PDVSA’s upstream and downstream infrastructure. The increased US imports indicate growing commercial integration despite the technical hurdles facing Venezuela’s aging oil production system.
This article was curated and published as part of our South American energy market coverage.
