Maracaibo Basin

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The Maracaibo Basin in Western Venezuela is a prolific, oil-producing sedimentary basin. The basin is bounded on the north by the Oca Fault which separates it from the Caribbean Sea. The remaining sides of the basin are bounded by a branching in the northern Andes Mountains termed the Sierra de Perijá (to the west) and the Merida Andes (to the south and east). The city of Maracaibo, Venezuela is located in the northern central part of the basin on the shore of Lake Maracaibo, which occupies the central part of basin.

Oil was discovered in producible quantities in Venezuela in 1914 at the town of Mene Grande in the east central part of the basin. The site of the first well was near a surface oil seep.

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