The timing of Venezuela's reaching the achievable maximum oil production

Alexey Belogoryev, Research and Development Director of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to RIA Novosti and the Prime news agency on the prospects for restoring oil production in Venezuela.

"Its potentially achievable maximum is 3.0–3.5 million barrels per day. It was at this level in the 1990s," Belogoryev said about oil production in Venezuela.

He noted that at the last peak of 2012-2015, oil production in the country reached 2.6-2.8 million barrels per day. In 2025, before the December recession, Venezuela, according to its own data, restored production to 1.14 million barrels per day. According to international estimates, it remained within 1 million, but this is still the best figure since the beginning of 2019.

"It will take about 15 years to reach a level above 3 million barrels per day, if they start large-scale investments today, they can reach 2 million barrels per day within five years," the analyst added.

According to him, the maximum expected production growth in 2026-2027 could reach 1.3-1.5 million barrels per day.