Venezuela Crude Production At 2.5M B/D - Oil Min:Report

Friday March 7, 4:39 AM

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Crude production at Venezuela's state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela SA (E.PVZ) currently stands at 2.5 million barrels a day, the nation's Oil Minister was quoted as saying in a report by state-run news agency Venpres Thursday.

"We're close to reaching our OPEC production ... by the end of this month," Rafael Ramirez was further quoted as saying. Venezuela's official output quota as agreed upon by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, stands at 2.819 million b/d. Ramirez could not be reached for additional comment.

The government's production level sharply contrasts with figures maintained by ex-staff of PdVSA. They claim production stands only at 1.09 million b/d after PdVSA temporary shut in 500,000 b/d of crude production due to an export bottleneck in the east. The government, however, claims the 500,000 b/d have already been recovered.

A nationwide strike which started Dec. 2 and lasted for two months severely crippled exports and production, which stood at around 3 million b/d by the end of November.

The company is struggling to reach or go beyond the 2 million b/d production level, analysts have said. After focusing on easy oil fields that don't require much added pressure to get the oil flowing, PdVSA faces difficulties as mature oil fields are more labor and capital intensive and take more time to pump oil.

Experts have said they doubt PdVSA would reach 2.5 million b/d any time soon due to a lack of financial and human resources.

-By Fred Pals, Dow Jones Newswires; 58414-2887461; fred.palsdowjones.com