From " Apertura Petrolera " to " Apertura Gas Natural " ? the Case of Venezuela Case Study from Background

Venezuela possesses the Western Hemisphere’s largest conventional proven oil reserves at 77.8 billion barrels and has proved natural gas reserves of 148 trillion cubic feet, the largest in Latin America and the seventh-largest in the world. Despite these abundant resources, economic performance of the country has been poor. Oil production declined steadily every year beginning in 1973 and by the early 1990’s it was clear that national oil and gas company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PdVSA) did not have sufficient capital to develop Venezuela’s oil and gas reserve base. In response, PdVSA advocated the “apertura petrolera” or “oil opening,” which was designed to attract foreign investment to help the country ramp up its oil production quickly. The “apertura petrolera” was implemented through the 1990’s and has generally been considered a success from the perspective of increasing oil reserves and production.