Venezuela imports crude oil for the first time in five years

Venezuela's oil production has declined so much that The owner of the largest reserves in the world imports crude for the first time in five years.

Domestic production fell below 1 million barrels a day for a minimum of 16 years in Marchin the midst of blackouts and US sanctions. When the interruption of the energy supply led to the closure of the oil fields, oil pipelines and harbors, which stopped the oil infrastructure, the state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela SA bought a cargo of crude oil in Nigeria, a member OPEC, which marks the first import of oil since 2014.

Nearly one million barrels of light crude and sweet Agbami are unloaded this Tuesdayafter being loaded early April and can help offset the decline in domestic production. PDVSA can also use lighter oil as a diluent to dilute thick crude oil in Venezuela to extract it from underground tanks more easily.

Light oil mixed currents are marketed as Merey 16, the main oil exported from the country and one of the qualities used to calculate the price of the OPEC oil basket. The Agbami load will likely be used for the manufacture of Merey, as the production of light oils for domestic use has declined over the years. According to the latest available official data, production was reduced by half between 2006 and 2016 to 313,000 barrels a day.

The last time that Venezuela imported crude, in 2014, it bought Algerian crude to mix it with extra heavy oilThe result was a diploma called Blend 16. PDVSA suspended the mix due to disagreements with the Algerian national oil company Sonatrach and complaints from American refineries, who were then the biggest buyers of the company.