North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) said new pipelines reach 435 wells along Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo, an oil-producing area with a long record of spills from aging infrastructure.
Of those wells, 301 were producing about 52,000 barrels of oil a day through the new lines as of Nov. 9, NABEP said. The remaining wells have connections in place for use when production resumes, according to the company.
NABEP said it has installed 1,149 kilometers of flexible pipe since starting work on the lake’s eastern shore in 2024. The project replaces older steel lines in the Bachaquero and Ceuta fields. The company’s figures describe the length installed and the wells connected; they do not measure a change in spills.
The lake’s pipeline problems predate this project. A study using Petróleos de Venezuela records counted 917 spills from flow lines during the first eight months of 1998. Those spills made up 52.7% of all recorded spills in that period.
NASA Earth Observatory reported that satellite images taken in September 2021 showed oil slicks on the lake. Its account described leaks from submerged pipelines, storage tanks, vessels and drilling platforms. NASA Earth Observatory also reported that local fishermen often found crude on their nets and catch.
NABEP says the replacement pipe is designed to resist corrosion and can be laid with fewer connections, which the company identifies as potential leak points. It also reported nearly four kilometers of steel repairs in 2026 on larger, 12-inch lines carrying oil and gas.
In its Nov. 9 update, NABEP listed another 176 kilometers of pipe in storage and 791 kilometers in transit. Those amounts are separate from the pipe it said it had already installed.
NABEP plans about 3,400 additional kilometers of pipe, including connections from 144 wells to the Bachaquero 3 compressor plant. The company gave no completion date.