After months of relief, fuel shortages worsened across the country. Lack of investment and collapse of production.
The lack of gasoline in Venezuela, alleviated until recently, intensified this December in a large part of the nation, just when the 20th anniversary of an oil strike that forced the country, then the fifth largest oil exporter in the world, to import fuel, a need that persists today.
The scarcity has created long lines of vehicles to load gasoline at service stations, a scenario that, in the midst of waiting, takes Venezuelans back to December 2002, when the internal distribution of fuel was affected after executives of the state-owned PDVSA joined a general strike promoted by the opposition against then President Hugo Chávez.
In the oil state of Zulia (northwest), José Hernández, a 50-year-old paramedic who was waiting in line to fill an ambulance tank, recalled that the shortage during the strike was “catastrophic”, almost like the one that is ” living right now.”
“I think (the queues) are almost the same, because I come from Sabaneta (another area of Maracaibo) and all the service stations are collapsed,” the man, who was carrying almost four hours in line, in which he still had thirty vehicles ahead.
In Maracaibo, the capital of this border region with Colombia, the fuel shortage – which had eased in the last year – began to worsen at the beginning of this month, which is evident in the queues of more than 200 vehicleswhich can take more than three hours to reach the pumps, where, in addition, the supply is limited to 40 liters per car.
Shortages and higher prices
Joel Sandrea, 49, had been in a queue for more than seven hours, who feels that the current situation “hits harder” than 20 years ago, having to pay $0.50 a liter for gasoline, which two decades ago had a subsidized and much lower price.
“Silver (money) is not enough for you at all, (so) it hits harder because you have to sacrifice 20 dollars (for 40 liters) that you can very easily use at home for any need,” he added.
Thus, Venezuelans once again face a related shortage, according to the economist and oil analyst Pilar Navarro, with a temporary stop at the largest refinery in the country, Amuaydue to a breakdown, something that PDVSA has not confirmed.
Rely on imports
In December 2002, oil production fell to 757,000 barrels per day (bpd) after registering a level of about 2.9 million bpd the previous month, according to data released at the time by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ( OPEC).
Hoy crude oil production is even below the level to which it fell 20 years agoclosing November at 693,000 bpd, according to the international organization.
The Venezuelan oil industry, after having been one of the strongest in the world, collapsed, especially in the last five years, due to the lack of investment, the reduction of qualified human resources, management, corruption and, more recently, the sanctions imposed by the United States, according to specialists.
Navarro pointed out that the production of refined products went from 965,000 bpd in 2002 -before the strike- “to being practically non-existent in recent years”, for which the country stopped “covering (in its entirety) the internal demand for fuels and export”, and began to “depend on imports of diluents and gasoline”, which come mainly from Iran.
The analyst for Latin America at Medley Advisors indicated that the refining system currently operates at 15% of its installed capacity -1.30 million bpd-, and supplies the domestic market between 110,000 and 140,000 bpd, when national demand reaches 200,000 barrels. per day.
Source: EFE
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