Venezuela reported to OPEC that oil production rose to 1,224,000 barrels per day in October

Venezuela reported an acceleration in oil production in October, but OPEC’s secondary sources recorded a more moderate increase, estimating production at 1,158,000 bpd.

Venezuela produced an average of 1,224,000 barrels per day (bd) in October, an increase of 19,000 barrels per day (bpd), a sharp acceleration compared with the increase of 5,000 bd reported in September, according to the latest monthly report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Venezuela’s increase in crude oil production ranked fourth highest in OPEC in October, but was far below the increases of 1,215,000 barrels per day in Saudi Arabia, 489,000 bpd in Iraq, and 326,000 b/d in Kuwait.

Among the smaller production increases, Venezuela surpassed Libya, whose increase was 11,000 barrels per day, according to direct reports from member countries to OPEC.

Secondary sources

According to OPEC’s secondary sources, Venezuela recorded an increase of 11,000 barrels per day in crude oil production in October—8,000 fewer than reported by direct sources—bringing production to 1,158,000 barrels per day.

According to these figures, Venezuela was the second OPEC country with the smallest production increase recorded in October, ahead of only Equatorial Guinea, which posted an average increase of 5,000 barrels per day.

The countries that contributed most to OPEC’s consolidated increase of 1,965,000 barrels per day in October were Saudi Arabia, with an increase of 1,182,000 b/d; Iraq, with 489,000 bpd; and Kuwait, with 232,000 b/d.

The price of Merey 16 in October

The average price of Merey 16 crude, Venezuela’s benchmark in the OPEC Basket, was $91.66 per barrel, $2.09 or 2.23% below the price recorded in September, while the organization’s basket rose by $1.53 to $112.12.

Venezuelan Merey 16 is the only OPEC crude oil priced below $100.

Venezuelan oil averaged $75.76 per barrel over the nine months recorded by OPEC, a price 31.69% higher than the average reported for the same period in 2025.

Venezuela is showing positive signs in the oil sector, but it is still far from reaching its potential, which should be between 2,800,000 and 3,200,000 million bpd, an estimate consistent with the average volume the country produced before the severe deterioration of its infrastructure began in the previous decade.

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