PDVSA
Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, Spanish pronunciation: [peðeˈβesa]) (English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as exploration and production of natural gas. Since its founding on 1 January 1976, with the nationalization of the Venezuelan oil industry, PDVSA has dominated the oil industry of Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter.
| Company type | State-owned enterprise |
|---|---|
| Industry | Oil and gas |
| Founded | 1976 |
| Headquarters | Maracaibo, Venezuela |
Key people | Pedro Tellechea, President |
| Products | Fuel, natural gas and other petrochemicals |
| Revenue | US$48.0 billion (2016) |
| $828 million (2016) | |
| Total assets | $189.7 billion (2016) |
| Owner | Government of Venezuela |
Number of employees | 70,000 |
| Subsidiaries | PDV Marina CVP Pequiven CIED PDVSA Gas PDV Deltaven Palmaven Electricidad de Caracas, C.A. (93.62%) Citgo (100%) |
| Website | www |
Oil reserves in Venezuela are the largest in the world and the state-owned PDVSA provides the government of Venezuela with substantial funding resources. Following the Bolivarian Revolution, PDVSA was mainly used as a vital source of income for the Venezuelan government. Profits were also used to assist the presidency, with funds directed towards allies of the Venezuelan government. With PDVSA focusing on political projects instead of oil production, mechanical and technical statuses deteriorated while employee expertise was removed following thousands of politically motivated firings. Incompetence within the company has led to serious inefficiencies and accidents and to endemic corruption; at least US$11 billion was stolen between 2004 and 2015. Jorge Giordani, minister of planning until in 2014, estimates that $300 billion was simply stolen. In 2018 thousands of workers left PDVSA, especially after the company was put under military control.