Venezuela’s Oil Output Decline Accelerates as Drillers Go Unpaid
- Service companies owed more than $1 billion scale back work
- Crude output could decline further from a six-year low
This article is for subscribers only.
Venezuela’s oil output, already the lowest since 2009, is set to slide further this year as contractors scale back drilling after the cash-strapped country fell more than $1 billion behind in payments.
The Latin American nation’s oil production, which generates 95 percent of export revenue, will decline by about 11 percent to 2.1 million barrels a day by the end of the year, Barclays Plc estimates. Output is falling largely because oil-services companies aren’t being paid, according to the International Energy Agency.