Venezuelan PDVSA expects a sharp decline in oil production this month with the four upgraders operating in the country running a lot lower than capacity, Reuters reports citing company documents and sources close to the company. The four upgraders in Venezuela turn its superheavy crude into liquid crude that can be loaded on tankers and exported. A string of blackouts in the last few weeks, however, have caused extended outages at crucial oil facilities including the upgraders. These have a combined capacity of 700,000 bpd. Now, two of these, Petropiar and Petromonagas, have been idle since early March when the first outage hit sanction-stricken Venezuela. The two upgraders are operated by joint ventures between PDVSA and Chevron and Rosneft, respectively. The other two—Petrocedeno, co-owned by French Total and Norway’s Equinor and PDVSA’s 100-percent owned Petrosanfelix—shut down in late March. Petrocedeno and Petropiar, however, were in the process of being […]