Petroleos de Venezuela- a state-owned company of Venezuela, slashes crude output at several locations while only intermittently operating the main crude blending plant in May 2020 in the wake of surmounting stockpiles.
- The oil industry across the country had already been squeezed over 50 per cent due to sanctions imposed by the United States President Donald Trump on the state-run PDVSA.
- In tandem with the fall in oil prices and sanctions across the country, the crude export declined sharply, boosting the local storage to 38.2 million barrels per day in May 2020, up by 2.3 million barrels against the previous month.