Venezuela weighs OPEC exit after 66 years in oil cartel
Venezuela is considering leaving OPEC, the oil cartel it helped create 66 years ago, as Caracas deepens its energy ties with Washington, Bloomberg reports. The idea has been discussed with US officials, but no final decision has been taken.
A withdrawal would sever one of OPEC’s most historic bonds and wipe out a country with the world’s largest proven crude reserves. Its short-term impact on oil supply may be limited, but the political blow to an already weakened cartel could be far more difficult to contain.
Venezuela is closely examining an exit, according to people familiar with the private discussions who spoke to Bloomberg. The White House did not immediately comment, while Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not respond to the news agency.
The talks come as the US negotiates a major interest in Venezuelan oilfields. Bloomberg said one option under discussion was a 100-year lease on several fields, although the terms remain unsettled. Axios reported that more than a dozen fields containing about 90 billion barrels could be involved.
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Vast reserves, limited market punch
Venezuela was one of five countries that founded OPEC in Baghdad in September 1960, along with Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. One of the organisation’s principal architects was Venezuelan politician Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo.
The country held 303.7 billion barrels of proven crude reserves at the end of 2025, according to OPEC’s latest statistical bulletin. That represents roughly one-fifth of the world’s known crude reserves.
Yet its present influence is far smaller than that geological wealth suggests. The International Energy Agency estimated Venezuelan production at 1.12 million barrels a day in July. Bloomberg’s survey put it at 1.16 million — less than half the country’s output a decade ago.
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Venezuela is also exempted from the current OPEC+ production cuts. So leaving wouldn’t automatically unleash a flood of previously locked-up oil or cause an immediate drop in petrol prices.
If confirmed, the news would pose a threat to OPEC’s authority. The United Arab Emirates left the group in May after years of disagreement over production limits. Venezuela’s departure would mean losing another prominent member within months — this time a founder holding the cartel’s largest reserve base.
