HOUSTON, TEXAS (By Pietro D. Pitts, Energy Analytics Institute, 29.Jan.2026, Words: 1,200) — State-owned Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) has long ranked among Latin America’s largest state oil companies by revenues, assets, reserves, and headcount. Yet despite a world‑class resource endowment (from crude oil to natural gas and numerous minerals) and even prolonged periods of high commodity prices, the company has consistently underperformed its potential.
PDVSA executives — new and old — dating back to the late 1990s, have floated ambitious production targets of 5 to 6 million barrels per day (MMb/d) and ambitious visions of Venezuela as a liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter.
