Why rebuilding Venezuelan oilfields won't be easy or cheap

"The big picture: Venezuela's crude output has dwindled to well under one million barrels per day after years of underinvestment, mismanagement, and sanctions - a far cry from around 3.5 mbd in the late 1990s. State of play: Don't expect a huge boost unless and until there's a secure operating environment, clear fiscal regime, an easing of sanctions and more. Some production could be revived relatively quickly by growing output from existing and still-operating wells, analysts say."

"What they're saying: "I think that the low-hanging fruit could probably bring another half million barrels per day to the market from Venezuela," Center for Strategic & International Studies oil scholar Clayton Seigle said at a briefing Monday. He sees a 1-2 year time frame and steps like replacing well casings, more subsurface stimulation to allow trapped oil and gas to flow more freely to for extraction, mechanical pressure increases, and more."

"President Trump told NBC News on Monday that the U.S. may subsidize an effort by oil companies to rebuild the country's energy infrastructure - a project he said could take less than 18 months. "I think we can do it in less time than that, but it'll be a lot of money," he said. "A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent and the oil companies will spend it, and then they'll get reimbursed by us or through revenue.""

Venezuela's crude output has fallen to well under one million barrels per day after years of underinvestment, mismanagement, and sanctions, down from around 3.5 mbd in the late 1990s. Limited gains of roughly 0.5 mbd are plausible within 1–2 years by restoring existing wells through casing replacement, subsurface stimulation, and mechanical pressure increases. A faster rebuild of energy infrastructure might be subsidized, but restoring pre-collapse production requires far larger, longer investments in electricity, pipelines, midstream capacity, and upgrading refineries for heavy oil. Estimates range from $80–90 billion to reach ~2.5 mbd to $183 billion to exceed 3 mbd over many years.

Read at Axios