Venezuelan exports of refined products, which have the highest commercial value, decreased considerably at the end of last year, falling to the lowest level in a decade.

In the most recent report issued by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Venezuelan exports of crude oil and refined products to the United States declined in December 2009 and amounted to 849,000 bpd compared to shipments sent in the same month of 2008, which stood at 1,159,000 bpd.

Year-to-year exports of crude oil to the United States have dropped 25 percent, while in the case of refined products they are declined 41.2 percent over the same period in 2008.

However, according to a report from the economic research firm Ecoanalítica, the decline is higher when comparing December's sales with the same period in the last ten years, although the downward trend has aggravated since 2006, when exports of gasoline and diesel posted a sharp decline.

"If we compare December's 2009 figure (77,000 barrels) to the average recorded in the last ten years, (a period during which the country sold 238,000 bpd) exports of refined products have fallen 67.6 percent," José Luis Saboin, an economist with Ecoanalítica said in an analysis of Venezuelan oil exports to the US, based on EIA data.

According to the Ecoanalítica report, historical trends based on EIA data confirm Pdvsa's strategy to diversify its markets to China and the member countries of the Petrocaribe energy agreement.

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas