April 8, 2005
PDVSA on track to produce 5Mb/d by 2010

(BNamericas.com) - "Venezuela's state oil firm PDVSA could produce 5 million barrels of oil a day (Mb/d) by 2010 if an aggressive exploration and production plan is successful, PDVSA E&P vice-president Luis Vierma told reporters.

'In exploration and production we are focusing our efforts on consolidating our resource base and maintaining important levels of production,' Vierma said. With an increase of 1.4Mb/d a year, PDVSA could reach production of 4.6-5.2Mb/d by 2010.

Production is currently around 3.6Mb/d, according to a presentation by PDVSA president and energy and oil minister Rafael Ramírez on April 5.

PDVSA will spend US$5.6bn in exploration and production this year, up from US$5bn in 2004, out of a total budget of US$20bn.

It took PDVSA more than two years to recover from the effects of the 2002-2003 oil stoppage, a 63-day strike that saw production drop to 25,000b/d from around 3Mb/d (.)