Venezuela oil exports fall despite Iranian aid

Venezuelan oil exports last year shrunk due to infrastructural disruptions. In addition, the U.S. sanctions and increased rivalry in the Asian market also adversely affected it. This region is crucial for Venezuela, and despite help from Iran, now it is difficult to conduct any trade ties in a tough market environment.

According to Reuters, after the possible easing of U.S. oil sanctions, the volume of exports may increase this year. Thus, the black gold intake will be resumed for some partners of Venezuela's national oil company.

In 2022, Iran managed to expand its activities in Venezuela by sending products to increase exports. Besides that, many technical specialists were called to repair Venezuelan refineries. However, a weak state of ports, oil fields and refineries makes it difficult to increase export turnover. In addition, Russian crude supplies to China also limit export growth. According to Reuters, PDVSA and its joint ventures exported about 616,540 barrels of oil and petroleum products per day last year, down 2.5% from 2021. That figure was even lower than 2020 volumes.