PDVSA

Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.
Company typeState-owned enterprise
IndustryOil and gas
FoundedJanuary 1976; 48 years ago (1976-01)
HeadquartersMaracaibo, Venezuela
Key people
Héctor Obregón, President[1]
ProductsFuel, natural gas and other petrochemicals
RevenueDecrease US$48.0 billion (2016)[2]
Decrease $828 million (2016)[2]
Total assetsDecrease $189.7 billion (2016)[3]
OwnerGovernment of Venezuela
Number of employees
70,000
SubsidiariesPDV Marina
CVP
Pequiven
CIED
PDVSA Gas
PDV Deltaven
Palmaven
Electricidad de Caracas, C.A. (93.62%)[4]
Citgo (100%)[5]
Websitewww.pdvsa.com Edit this at Wikidata

Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, Spanish pronunciation: [peðeˈβesa]) (English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as exploration and production of natural gas. Since its founding on January 1, 1976, with the nationalization of the Venezuelan oil industry, PDVSA has dominated the oil industry of Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter.

Oil reserves in Venezuela are the largest in the world and the state-owned PDVSA provides the government of Venezuela with substantial funding resources.[6] Following the Bolivarian Revolution, PDVSA was mainly used as a vital source of income for the Venezuelan government.[7] Profits were also used to assist the presidency, with funds directed towards allies of the Venezuelan government.[7] With PDVSA focusing on political projects instead of oil production, mechanical and technical statuses deteriorated while employee expertise was removed following thousands of politically motivated firings.[7] Incompetence within the company has led to serious inefficiencies and accidents and to endemic corruption;[8] at least US$11 billion was stolen between 2004 and 2015. Jorge Giordani, minister of planning until in 2014, estimates that $300 billion was simply stolen.[9] In 2018 thousands of workers left PDVSA,[10] especially after the company was put under military control.[11]

  1. ^ "Venezuela appoints alleged drug trafficker El Aissami as oil minister". Reuters. April 27, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Venezuela's PDVSA oil revenue tumbles amid lower prices, production". Reuters. August 12, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  3. ^ "PETRÓLEOS DE VENEZUELA, S.A. AND SUBSIDIARIES (PDVSA)" (PDF). PDVSA. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  4. ^ "Fitch Downgrades Ca la Electricidad de Caracas Edc Idrs to B; Outlook Stable :: Unternehmensnachrichten". Archived from the original on April 18, 2009. Retrieved February 1, 2009.
  5. ^ "CITGO - About us". Archived from the original on August 22, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2009.
  6. ^ "Venezuela's oil industry: Up in smoke". The Economist. August 27, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
  7. ^ a b c López Maya, Margarita (2016). El ocaso del chavismo: Venezuela 2005-2015. Editorial Alfa. pp. 349–351. ISBN 9788417014254.
  8. ^ "Venezuela Inc., up in smoke". Globe and Mail. Toronto. September 17, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYRB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Neuman, William; Krauss, Clifford (June 14, 2018). "Workers Flee and Thieves Loot Venezuela's Reeling Oil Giant". The New York Times. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  11. ^ Buitrago, Deisy (April 17, 2018). "Under military rule, Venezuela oil workers quit in a stampede". Reuters. Retrieved July 2, 2018.