Venezuela’s oil exports plunged by 37.5% in 2020 over tightened US sanctions
Pressured by strict US sanctions, Venezuela’s oil exports plunged by 376,500 barrels per day (bpd) in 2020, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and internal documents from state-run PDVSA, financially squeezing socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
The administration of US President Donald Trump also put curbs on PDVSA’s main trading partners, the owners of tankers still transporting Venezuelan oil and on fuel supply to the gasoline-thirsty nation.
The punishment, aimed to oust Maduro after his 2018 re-election was called a sham by most Western nations, has led PDVSA to pursue new customers, rely on mostly unknown intermediaries to resell its oil and deepen ties with Iran, another country under US sanctions.
