Brief
Venezuela’s crude exports held at 1.17 million barrels per day in August despite operational constraints at PDVSA. The condition of export terminals and problems with crude quality disrupted operations and increased vessel waiting times for loading. Maintaining shipment volumes amid those difficulties suggests resilience in exports, but the delays highlight persistent weaknesses in the infrastructure and processes needed to move crude efficiently.
Stable export volumes preserve recent oil-sector momentum, but longer loading delays expose operational fragility. Unless terminal conditions and crude-quality problems improve, PDVSA may struggle to sustain shipments reliably or increase them beyond August’s level.
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Oil And Gas · El Nacional - Economía
Sep 2, 2026
Watch the next monthly crude-export figure, vessel waiting times and any evidence that PDVSA has resolved terminal and crude-quality problems. Improvement across all three would confirm that August’s volume is operationally sustainable.