In late August, the U.S. signed a sweeping oil deal with Venezuela's interim authorities to control a share of the country's oil. In one of the largest oil-producing regions, residents welcome promises to revitalize the industry, they also have a more immediate demand: clean up the polluted lake.
Lake Maracaibo has become a symbol of the deteriorated state of the Venezuela's oil industry
Jessica Partida, 42, needs a $30 US ultrasound for her kidneys, which she can’t afford.
Her husband, Enrique Olivares, fishes on Lake Maracaibo, and for days the oil in the water has prevented him from catching the shrimp he uses as bait. Without bait, he cannot fish, and when he doesn’t fish, he doesn’t make money.
“I left the hospital because my husband hasn’t been able to fish because of the oil,” she said.
The shore of Lake Maracaibo from above. Fishing communities who live by the water say frequent oil spills on the lake have affected their health and their livelihoods.(Camille Rodríguez Montilla)
Jessica Partida, 42, lives in a block home on the shores of Lake Maracaibo. She and her husband have been unable to afford a $30 US ultrasound for her kidneys.(Camille Rodríguez Montilla)
Partida’s family of six lives in a block home in Cabimas, about 500 km west of Caracas, on the shore of one of the country’s largest oil-producing regions. Just over a century ago, a Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary first struck oil here. The lake (technically an estuary) served as a symbol for Venezuela’s oil wealth for decades.
But today, the water is dotted with rusting rigs and pumpjacks. Most of them are out of use and some leak oil and gas into the water. Now, the lake that once embodied Venezuela’s oil bonanza has come to symbolize the industry’s collapse.
Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves in the world, with an estimated 303 billion barrels, but accounts for only about one per cent of global supply. Oil output has fallen by about two-thirds since the early 2000s.
The decline began under former president Hugo Chávez, when state oil company PDVSA fired around 18,000 skilled workers following a 2002-2003 strike. Revenues were diverted away from maintenance, and much of the oil infrastructure has been left to decay. U.S. sanctions imposed in 2017 and 2019 compounded the problems.
An idle pumpjack is seen on a platform on the waters of Lake Maracaibo. Much of the oil machinery on the lake has fallen into disuse.(Camille Rodríguez Montilla)
“We don’t feel the oil wealth,” Partida said. “We don’t sell the oil, we don’t do anything with it. It just sits there, going to waste.”
Oil fields in the Maracaibo Basin, where the lake is located, are part of the sweeping energy deal reached in late August between the United States and Venezuela’s interim authorities. It grants private company North American Blue Energy Partners a 100-year concession over 17 oil fields around the country. The company has promised to double oil production in two years.
While many in the community surrounding the lake welcome promises to revitalize the oil sector, they also have a more immediate demand: clean up the polluted lake.
Fishing despite spills
The oil shifts with winds and currents, but fishermen say it often drifts toward them in the early afternoon, just when they would normally head out to collect shrimp to use as bait for the following morning.
“When there’s a lot of oil, we don’t do anything,” said Gregory Díaz, 36, who has fished the lake for 20 years. “When we throw our nets, they become covered in oil, and if the nets get damaged, we have nothing to work with.”
Carlos Rodríguez, left, and Gregory Díaz have fished the water of Lake Maracaibo for decades. Díaz estimates catches have dwindled by 40 per cent in recent years due to frequent oil spills.(Camille Rodríguez Montilla)
“The oil companies used to come clean the shore but stopped,” said Olivares, who has fished on the lake for over a decade. “Used to, PDVSA would replace our nets when they were damaged, but they haven’t done that in years.”
Data on oil spills in Venezuela are outdated. The Observatory of Political Ecology of Venezuela, which tracks pollution events across the country, counted more than 80 oil spills in 2022, the last year for which figures are available. Most were located in the western part of the country near the lake.
Those who live along the lake say the spills haven’t stopped, and many describe dozens of large ones each year.
“This one just exploded a few weeks ago,” said Carlos Rodríguez from his fishing boat as he steered toward a pumpjack that was leaking gas and covered in sticky crude, which was also dripping into the water. There was a heavy smell of gas for several metres around the machine.
Fishermen push a boat out of the water on the shore of Lake Maracaibo, with a ring of slimy black residue from oil pollution on the lake.(Camille Rodríguez Montilla)
The crude oil covers every surface in contact with the water, leaving a black slimy residue.
Many say the constant smell and contact with the oil has impacted their health.
“There are people who suffer from asthma and it chokes them,” said Rodríguez. “Most have left because the oil chokes them so much and they would rather live somewhere else.”
“The kids go swimming and come out stained with oil,” Partida said.
Children swim in Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo, which is contaminated with oil.(Camille Rodríguez Montilla)
No cleanup scheduled
Neither the U.S. nor Venezuelan authorities have mentioned cleanup of the lake as part of the new oil deal. Venezuelan authorities have made several unfulfilled promises in recent years to clean up the water and shore, most recently in 2023, when the Environmental Ministry promised a “national team” to clean 600 beaches by the lake.
The government’s communication ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment.
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One local environmental organization, Azul Ambientalistas, has demanded that five per cent of revenue from new oil output go to efforts to clean the lake.
Cleaning up the lake is the first thing many residents want, so they can fish. But many say they would also welcome the chance to work with the oil, instead of only alongside it.
“If they call me, I’ll go to work,” Olivares said.
Enrique Olivares has lived on the shores of Lake Maracaibo his entire life. He fishes for a living to support his family of six but says he'd also work in oil if the industry does grow again in his region.(Camille Rodríguez Montilla)
So far, he says they haven’t felt any economic change since the new oil deal was announced.
Díaz, who has two daughters, ages five and seven, says a job on land “could change your life.”
“Here we depend on fishing. If we catch something, we eat. If we don’t, we don’t have money,” he said.
Their catches have dwindled by 40 per cent in recent years due to the oil in the water, he estimates.
A fisherman holds a recently caught fish on the shore of Lake Maracaibo.(Camille Rodríguez Montilla)
Some residents say a company recently came through the neighbourhood collecting names, phone numbers and addresses should new jobs open up. Olivares says he is on the list, but so far no one has called.
For Partida, the ultrasound of her kidneys will have to wait until her family’s economic situation improves. She says she’s hopeful the new oil money will soon be felt.
“I believe it, but sometimes I have doubts, because time passes and there are still gas leaks and oil spills,” she said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Freelance journalist
Cody Weddle is a journalist covering Latin America from Bogotá, Colombia. He has focused on the region for nearly a decade, including five years living in and reporting on Venezuela.
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