Venezuela refined 404,000 b/d of oil and feedstocks in July, a 13pc increase from a year earlier, signaling some improvements in its infrastructure, state-owned PdV executive vice president Jovanny Martinez said on Tuesday.
Refinery runs declined from 451,000 b/d in June. Martinez did not define what feedstocks might be included besides oil. The figure is higher than a recent estimate for early August of 350,000 b/d that PdV president Hector Obregon provided.
But the increased refining was part of several positive signs in the first half of the year for PdV, Martinez said during a presentation at the AAPG Image 2026 geoscience and energy conference in Houston, Texas.
Oil production in July increased by 3.8pc to 1.221mn b/d from a year earlier, natural gas production rose by 4.2pc to 4.061 Bcf/d and domestic fuel and specialty sales grew by 5.4pc to 185,000 b/d over the same period, he added.
Martinez and energy minister Paula Henao at the same event acknowledged that Venezuela still has massive work to do to draw more investment and improve conditions for the energy industry and for Venezuelans.
"We have to recover our infrastructure," Martinez said. "We must have clear rules of the game."
US under secretary of energy Kyle Haustveit also acknowledged "tremendous progress" in Venezuela since January, when US forces struck Caracas and arrested president Nicolas Maduro on drug trafficking charges. But Haustveit called for more.
"I want to be clear that we are not declaring victory at this point," Haustveit said. "There is work to be done."
The US has called for free and fair elections in Venezuela after most of the administration of jailed former leader Maduro remains in place. While no roadmap exists yet, Venezuela's acting national assembly and a US-recognized opposition-controlled body last week arrived at some initial agreements.
