What Happened According to a May 14 report by the Argus commodities media service, crude oil production by Venezuela's state-owned energy company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) has dropped to an average of 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) this month. In contrast, OPEC estimated the average daily crude production in April at nearly 770,000 bpd. Several factors appear to be behind the decline, including U.S. government sanctions on both imports of crude from Venezuela and exports of the diluents that PDVSA needs to blend with the country's heavy crude to prepare it for export. Another issue contributing to the decline is PDVSA's decision to reduce output from facilities that upgrade the country's tar-like oil ahead of a planned shift toward a less technologically complex method of blending heavy and lighter crude for export.