Venezuela's Crumbling Refineries Threaten Oil Export Rebound

Venezuela's oil refineries are in dire straits despite a recent rebound in crude production. The country's aging refineries, including the Paraguana Refining Center in Western Venezuela, operate well below capacity due to decades of underinvestment and equipment failures.

The 955,000-barrel-per-day complex once symbolized Venezuela's oil wealth but now runs at a fraction of its capacity. At the Amuay refinery, workers describe the facilities as 'ugly and rusty' with open-air waste pits nearly full and residue seeping across pipelines.

A Venezuelan energy analyst, Oswaldo Felizzola, estimates that restoring refining capacity would require at least $20 billion in investment. However, foreign oil companies are wary of investing in Venezuela's refineries due to the country's challenging heavy sour crude grades and its own refineries' ability to process them.