Repsol imported 641,000 tonnes of Venezuelan crude in August, its largest monthly delivery since 2002, according to Cores. In the first eight months of the year, it totals 2.32 million tonnes, 211% more.
The Spanish oil company Repsol received 641,000 tonnes of Venezuelan crude in August, the largest monthly delivery since 2002, according to records from the Corporación de Reservas Estratégicas de Productos Petrolíferos (Cores), which is under the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge. The information, reported by infolibre, reflects an exponential increase in shipments that positions Venezuela as one of the main oil suppliers to the Spanish market, alongside Mexico, Nigeria, and the United States.
In the first eight months of the year, imports total 2.32 million tonnes, which is 211% more than in the same period of 2025. The acceleration began in May, following the agreement between Caracas and Repsol to compensate for the offshore gas production that the multinational conducts in the Cardón IV project (Perla field), in a 50% partnership with the Italian company Eni.
This gas supplies several power generation plants in Venezuela, a country plunged into a severe energy crisis with blackouts of up to ten hours daily that have reignited protests in the streets. According to the consultancy Ecoanalítica, the available electricity generation hovers around 13,000 megawatts at peak times, against a demand of 15,000 megawatts.
"The generation deficit consolidates as the main bottleneck for any attempt at economic reactivation in Venezuela," Ecoanalítica states in its latest report.
The Venezuelan Minister of Electric Energy, Rolando Alcalá, has announced that 1,300 megawatts will be added to the National Electric System in the last quarter of the year. The government of Delcy Rodríguez has signed agreements with General Electric and other foreign companies to add more than 5,000 megawatts over the next four years.
The easing of sanctions by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury has boosted these operations. In March, Repsol and Eni reached an agreement with the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) to ensure the long-term stability of gas operations. In April, Repsol signed another agreement to regain control of Petroquiriquire (PDVSA controls 60% and Repsol 40%) and increase oil production.
The CEO of Repsol, Josu Jon Imaz, travelled to Caracas in June to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Rodríguez government and PDVSA to evaluate the development of oil fields in the Horcón area, southeast of Lake Maracaibo. In that meeting, a schedule was established for crude deliveries to Spain in payment for gas production.
Imaz has publicly defended the company's role in the country: "We produce with Eni 60% of the gas that stabilizes the country. This is very important (…) Imagine the humanitarian situations that would have arisen if this had not worked," he stated at an energy forum held in Madrid in early September.
Repsol, whose presence in Venezuela dates back to 1993, produces about 45,000 barrels per day of crude in the country. Venezuela also has a historical debt with the company of around 4.5 billion euros. The oil company plans to triple its investments in the country over the next three years, as Imaz conveyed to representatives of the White House.
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