Venezuela’s state oil firm PDVSA has said that it signed a US$430 million joint service agreement with seven companies that would help it increase its crude oil production by 641,000 barrels per day.

The companies will help PDVSA to raise production at wells at the oil fields Arecuna, Sanvi Guere, Orocual, Dación, Jusepín, Franquera-Moporo, and Carito – Pirital, the state firm said in a statement.

Currently, the 14 wells where Venezuela will look to boost production pump 384,000 bpd, Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo said, adding that “we have the opportunity to raise production by 641,000 bpd,” and hailing the agreement as “the beginning of a new era at PDVSA.”

This is not the first time that Venezuela has claimed it has grand plans to boost its production. Quevedo said last month that he had discussed plans with PDVSA to raise the country’s crude oil production in the second half of the year.

Venezuela is suffering the worst loss of oil production in history amid an unprecedented economic collapse, years of mismanagement and underinvestment in the oil industry, an aggravating humanitarian crisis, and a leader who is hell-bent on clinging to power. Venezuela’s inflation will surge to a staggering one million percent by the end of this year as the country with the world’s biggest oil reserves remains stuck in a profound economic and social crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts.

Venezuela’s collapse, alongside U.S. sanctions on Iran, have been putting upside pressure on oil prices for months, and is expected to continue to do so, as analysts don’t see an end to the crisis in sight.

According to OPEC’s secondary sources, Venezuela’s oil production in July dropped to below the 1.3-million-bpd mark—at 1.278 million bpd, plunging 47,700 bpd from June. This compares with an average of 2.154 million bpd in 2016, and an average of 1.911 million bpd in 2017.

Some analysts expect Venezuela’s production to fall to below 1 million bpd by the end of this year.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: