Venezuela's decrepit oil infrastructure is unable to meet its oil production target

Reuters:
As Venezuela's dilapidated energy sector struggles to pump enough crude oil to meet the country's OPEC output target, rival producers within the exporters group have started to plug the gap, OPEC and industry sources said.

The South American country's oil output hit a 28-year low in October as state-owned oil giant PDVSA [PDVSA.UL] struggled to find the funds to drill wells, maintain oilfields and keep pipelines and ports working.

Venezuela's oil production, which has been falling by about 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) per month since last year, is on track to fall by at least 250,000 bpd in 2017 according to numbers reported to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as U.S. sanctions and a lack of capital hobble operations. [For a graphic on Venezuelan and Iraqi oil shipments to the United States and India, click tmsnrt.rs/2A9EKCH]

Some OPEC members expect the fall to accelerate in 2018, reaching at least 300,000 bpd, OPEC sources said. At a recent internal OPEC meeting, Venezuelan officials were asked to give a clearer picture of the country's declining output.
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But heavy oil from OPEC member Iraq and non-OPEC producers Canada and Brazil are already replacing Venezuelan barrels to key customers the United States and India, according to the sources and Thomson Reuters data.
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If the US switches its refineries to process light crude which it has in abundance from the heavy crude from Venezuela the market for it will shrink.  Venezuela is a demonstration of how Socialism can ruin an economy and make prosperous countries poor.

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