Logo
zoom
3 hours ago
South America has raised its oil exports more than the U.S. has done so far this year as key producers in the region boosted production and shipments to a world scrambling for crude that’s not dependent on the Strait of Hormuz.
Over the past five years, South America’s biggest producer and exporter, Brazil, has started production at several new offshore platforms in the Santos pre-salt fields. Guyana has continuously increased overseas shipments as the Exxon-led consortium starts up developments at fields in the offshore Stabroek block, where more than 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent have been found over the past decade.
Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru have seen their crude output decline. Venezuela, however, is raising its output after more than six years of crumbling production and exports between the U.S. sanctions on the Venezuelan industry in 2019 and the U.S. capture of Nicolas Maduro early this year.
In the past two months, Venezuela has boosted its oil exports to a seven-year high and is set to further ramp up shipments as U.S.-controlled sales, easing sanctions, and returning international firms lifted Venezuela’s oil production.
The rise of supply from South America couldn’t have come at a better time for these producers—buyers are scrambling for supply that doesn’t need passage through the Strait of Hormuz after the Middle East war crippled exports from the world’s most important exporting region.