Venezuela hits post-sanctions oil export peak as US becomes top buyer

Venezuela shipped 1.25 million barrels of oil per day in May, marking the third consecutive month of growth and the strongest performance since the United States imposed energy sanctions in 2019. The figures, drawn from maritime transport data and analyzed by Reuters, tell a story of rapid industrial recovery—one driven as much by politics as by geology.

Compared to May of the previous year, exports jumped 61 percent. In practical terms, Venezuela is now moving nearly twice as much crude as it did twelve months ago. Sixty-seven separate cargo shipments left Venezuelan ports that month. The growth has begun to stabilize: May's combined crude and refined product volumes exceeded April's by just 0.7 percent, a sign that the acceleration is settling into a new baseline rather than spiraling upward indefinitely.

The engine behind this turnaround is straightforward. The interim government of Delcy Rodríguez, backed by Washington, has loosened the sanctions that had strangled the Venezuelan oil sector for years. Foreign companies responded by expanding their petroleum and gas operations in the country, which holds membership in OPEP. The Venezuelan Ministry of Petroleum now projects reaching 1.37 million barrels daily by the end of 2026—a 22 percent increase from the 1.12 million barrels the country was producing at the close of 2025. That would represent output levels not seen since before the first sanctions took hold.

The most striking detail is who is buying. The United States, the very nation that sanctioned Venezuela into economic isolation, has become its largest customer. In May, American buyers took 558,000 barrels per day. India purchased 427,000 barrels daily, and Europe bought 169,000. All three regions received more Venezuelan crude in May than in April. The country has also resumed sales to markets it had been cut off from for years—a signal that its commercial rehabilitation is advancing.

The mechanics of the export trade have shifted. Chevron, the American oil giant and principal partner in PDVSA's joint ventures, actually reduced its shipments from 308,000 barrels daily in April to 269,000 in May. Meanwhile, global petroleum traders like Vitol and Trafigura accelerated sharply, moving from 691,000 barrels daily in April to 787,000 in May. These traders now carry the bulk of Venezuelan crude to international markets. The Indian refiner Reliance Industries has emerged as one of the three largest buyers of Venezuelan oil in recent months, purchasing directly from PDVSA and also through intermediaries including Chevron, Vitol, and Trafigura.

Beyond crude, Venezuela exported roughly 288,000 metric tons of refined petroleum products and petrochemical byproducts in May—down from 359,000 tons the month before. The country simultaneously imported 93,000 barrels daily of heavy naphtha, a critical ingredient for diluting its extra-heavy Orinoco crude and making it exportable.

Yet the export surge arrives amid mixed economic signals. In the first quarter of 2026, Venezuela's consolidated GDP growth decelerated to just 2.51 percent annually. More troubling: petroleum GDP actually fell 2.12 percent during that same period, despite the higher export volumes. Non-petroleum activities also slowed, growing only 3.11 percent. Analysts project 8 percent GDP growth for the year and double-digit growth in years ahead, but the gap between rising oil shipments and stagnant petroleum sector earnings raises questions about whether the recovery is as solid as the headline numbers suggest. The Colombian-Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce sees the political and economic shifts as opening doors not just to trade but to new investments and strategic alliances, though it is waiting for private banks in both countries to offer concrete financial instruments—letters of credit, guarantees, short-term financing—that would fully normalize bilateral operations.