Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA has completed construction of a new oil export terminal at the eastern Jose port, company officials said on Tuesday.
"It will allow us to dock three ships at the same time and increase our capacity to ship crude and products to the United States and Europe," PDVSA Vice President Felix Rodriguez told official state news agency Venpres. The new dock, which was constructed by PDVSA and the foreign-financed Ameriven oil project, will increase Venezuela's ability to export oil by 7 million barrels each month.
Ameriven, a joint venture between PDVSA and US oil majors ConocoPhillips and ChevronTexaco, is scheduled to complete construction of an upgrading unit to turn extra heavy Venezuelan oil into synthetic crude for export later this year.
The Ameriven project is part of a government plan to increase total Venezuelan oil output to 5 million barrels per day (bpd) in the next five years from 3.1 million bpd now.
But analysts say Venezuelan production is actually closer to 2.6 million bpd following a crippling oil strike last year that temporarily shut in crude shipments by the world's No. 5 oil exporter.