Maracaibo

Commentary

The basin retains large resources, and the arrest of Maduro offers hope of a reopening of the sector, but PDVSA's infrastructure is badly degraded and sanctions relief and legal reform are needed. On the Colombian side, the new government has reopened exploration contracting. Outlook: Neutral.

Updated

October 12, 2026

Location

Description

The MCB covers c.50,000sq km between the Sierra de Perijá and the Cordillera de Mérida and has produced more than 30bn bbl of conventional oil, ranking it among the top petroleum-producing basins in the world. Organic-rich shales of the Upper Cretaceous La Luna Formation are the main petroleum source rock, and La Luna shales have reached adequate thermal maturity for both oil and gas generation across most of the basin. There have been two phases of petroleum generation and expulsion, during Paleogene and Miocene–Recent subsidence, with most reserves in Eocene and Miocene fluviodeltaic sandstones. Significant prospectivity remains in La Luna shale sequences and low-permeability sandstones, for which the USGS estimated mean continuous resources of 656mm bbl of oil and 5.7tcf of gas.

Summary

The Basin has been extensively explored, although new discoveries continue to be made following the application of new exploration technologies.