Venezuela’s Oil Heartland Is Shutting Wells as US Pressure Chokes Exports

Key Points

• Orinoco output was reported at 498,131 bpd on December 29, down 25% in two weeks, as PDVSA shut wells amid tight storage.
• Backlogs at the José export hub and in residual fuels are forcing stopgap measures and cutting production.
• New US sanctions and maritime enforcement are raising the cost—and the risk—of moving Venezuelan oil.

Venezuela’s latest production drop is being driven by a simple limit: oil that cannot be stored or shipped must stop being produced. PDVSA has begun closing wells in some Orinoco Belt fields because storage is filling and exports are not clearing fast enough.

The Orinoco, producing heavy and extra-heavy crude, has long supplied close to two-thirds of Venezuela’s total output. The choke point is visible offshore from PDVSA’s José export hub.

Reporting based on shipping and industry data described tankers queuing as cargoes waited for loading windows and route decisions. Estimated crude sitting on undeparted vessels rose to about 16 million barrels from roughly 11 million in mid-December.

On land, the congestion is spilling into refining. Residual fuels have piled up in land and floating storage, with estimates around 25 million barrels.

Sanctions squeeze PDVSA as oil exports face renewed risk

PDVSA has reportedly reopened idled tanks and diverted residual fuel to waste pools to avoid wider shutdowns at the Paraguaná Refining Center, cited at 955,000 barrels a day of capacity.

US pressure is tightening in parallel. On December 31, Washington sanctioned four tankers—Nord Star, Lunar Tide, Della, and Valiant—and targeted trading entities based in Hong Kong and mainland China, signaling to Beijing.

The tanker Bella 1 also drew attention after reports of a US Coast Guard pursuit beginning December 21, including claims it tried to evade boarding and painted a Russian flag on its hull.

President Trump has claimed a US strike inside Venezuela on December 29; independent confirmation remains limited, and Maduro’s government did not publicly acknowledge it. US officials also accuse Maduro of enabling drug trafficking; he denies it, and some specialists urge caution.

For Caracas, the stakes are immediate. Oil sales are widely reported to generate more than 95% of national revenue. When exports stall, the cash squeeze arrives fast.

Related coverage: Brazil’s Morning Call | Americans Detained In Venezuela In A Tit-For-Tat Pressure Cy This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Venezuela affairs and Latin American financial news.