The government policy of marked incentives for the industrial sector, from which the possibility of freeing the country from excessive dependence on oil is particularly expected, has already given some good results. However, despite the standards being higher than in Latin America, productivity is low and industries cannot compete in the market. In addition to the aforementioned steel and petrochemical plants (the main refineries are located in Amuay, Cardón, San Lorenzo, Bajo Grande, Barinas, El Calvario, Morón and Puerto La Cruz), according to simplyyellowpages, Venezuela can mainly count on plants for the production of aluminum, installed at Ciudad Guayana, on cement factories (Caracas, Pertigalete, Barquisimeto), paper mills (Maracay), chemical plants (sulfuric acid and nitrogen fertilizers in Morón), tire factories, glass factories, motor vehicle assembly plants (both cars and commercial vehicles, in Caracas, Valencia and La Victoria), factories for the production of radio and television sets. The various industries that process local agricultural and livestock products are added: breweries, rice mills and mill complexes, sugar refineries, oil mills, leather industries, canneries, tobacco factories and, almost all concentrated in the Valencia area, textile industries (cotton, wool, artificial and synthetic fibers). § The greatest Venezuelan resource is constituted, as mentioned, by oil, of which Venezuela is the tenth producer on a world scale (125 million tons extracted in 2006; main fields in Maracaibo, Falcón, Barinas, Maturín, Anzoátegui, Monagas, Delta Amacuro and Guárico) and the third exporter country. At the beginning of the seventies of the century. XX, the country was in third place in the world ranking, extracting an average of 180 million tons; authoritative member of OPEC, played a leading role in the decisions of this Organization which led, in 1973, to the first oil “shock”, with the reduction of production and the increase in price (from 3 dollars per barrel to 14 dollars, against 11 Countries of the Persian Gulf); in 1976, the sector was nationalized (however, the technical contribution of foreign companies continues to be important). Subsequently, the increasingly conspicuous imbalance of the economy towards the oil sector alone – an orientation particularly damaging for a country which, compared to the Arab ones, had to bear a much greater load of population and presented a much wider framework of potential resources – has induced to contain production, limiting its impact on exports.

Subsequently, in the face of the new world energy balances, Venezuela began to contest the system of production quotas imposed by OPEC, considering it to be outdated, and kept above approx. 20% (3.2 million barrels per day, against 2.6 million assigned). Only in 1998, in the face of the serious internal crisis, did we return to talk of quotas (to the extent of 500,000 barrels less per day), in an attempt, however in vain, to cause a rise in the price. Although there are numerous refineries in the country, part of the crude oil is sent to the plants of there has been a return to talk of quotas (to the extent of 500,000 barrels less per day), in an attempt, however in vain, to bring about a rise in the price. Although there are numerous refineries in the country, part of the crude oil is sent to the plants of there has been a return to talk of quotas (to the extent of 500,000 barrels less per day), in an attempt, however in vain, to bring about a rise in the price. Although there are numerous refineries in the country, part of the crude oil is sent to the plants of Curaçao and Aruba, in the Netherlands Antilles. The production of natural gas, extracted in Placer, Lechoso, Amana and Maraven, is enormous.

Petroquímicas de Venezuela (Pequiven) oversees the development of the entire petrochemical sector. The deposits of iron minerals, mostly with a high metallic content, are also very conspicuous, with mines at El Pao, Cerro Bolívar and San Isidro; iron is partly exported, but to a large extent it feeds the national steel industry, located in Matanzas, the industrial suburb of Ciudad Guayana. Venezuela has many other mineral resources, more or less abundant: bauxite (of which it is the ninth world producer, with 6 million tons extracted in 2006), copper, lead, gold (on the right tributaries of the Orinoco), diamonds. (high Icabarú), asphalt, asbestos (Cojedes and Miranda), phosphates (Falcón and Táchira), manganese, coal (Naricual and Capiricual) etc.; along the coast there are numerous salt pans from which iodized sea salt is extracted. Finally, the hydroelectric potential (10 power plants on the Caroní, in addition to those of Guri and Macagua) is very significant, which covers 70% of electricity needs. A nuclear reactor is in operation near Caracas. The secondary sector contributes 52.1% to the formation of the GDP and employs 23.3% of the workforce.