Venezuela’s state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) has cut crude production and slowed its blending activity at several plants in May due to rising inventories, Reuters reported, citing industry sources and documents about the matter.
Venezuela’s total domestic stocks rose by .3 million barrels from the end of last month to 38.2 million barrel recently as crude exports tumbled. Stockpiles reached 40.3 million barrels in September 2019 but drained as exports spiked. Meanwhile, PDVSA’s production stood at 656,000 barrels on May 13 and 642,000 barrels on May 14, well below the average of 737,000 bpd in April.
The stock of flagship Merey crude at the Jose export terminal reached 9.6 million barrels this week, compared to 7.2 million barrels on May 4. This means that available space at the terminal is just 318,000 barrels.
The mounting inventory pressure prompted PDVSA on Sunday to halt blending activity at its joint venture with CNPC, Petrosinovensa. Operation at the facility resumed the following day. Blending was also halted repeatedly during mid-May, according to the sources. Between May 20 and May 24, the facility produced around 100,000 bpd. PDVSA-Chevron JV, the Petropiar crude upgrader is the only upgrading and blending plant that maintains operations, the sources added.
