MARACAIBO, LAKE

Spanish Lago de Maracaibo, large inlet of the Caribbean Sea, lying in the Maracaibo Basin of northwestern Venezuela. It is the largest natural lake in South America, covering an area of about 5,150 square miles (13,300 square km), extending southward for 130 miles (210 km) from the Gulf of Venezuela, and reaching a width of 75 miles (121 km). Many rivers flow into Lake Maracaibo, the most important being the Catatumbo River, a transportation artery for products from the adjacent regions and from the Colombian-Venezuelan highlands. The lake water in the southern portion is fresh, but a stronger tidal influence makes the northern waters somewhat brackish. The lake is quite shallow, except toward the south, and it is surrounded by swampy lowlands. For many years a bar at the mouth of the lake, extending some 16 miles (26 km), restricted navigation to vessels drawing less than 13 feet (4 m) of water. After constant dredging in the 1930s had increased the depth to 25 feet (8 m), a 2-mile- (3-kilometre-) long stone breakwater and a 35-foot- (11-metre-) deep channel were completed in 1957 to accommodate oceangoing ships and tankers. Lake Maracaibo is one of the world's richest and most centrally located petroleum-producing regions. The first productive well was drilled in 1917, and the productive area has come to include a 65-mile (105-kilometre) strip along the eastern shore, extending 20 miles (32 km) out into the lake. Thousands of derricks protrude from the water, and many more line the shore, while underwater pipelines transport the petroleum to storage tanks on the land. The lake's basin supplies about two-thirds of the total Venezuelan petroleum output. Most of the industry was developed by foreign (chiefly American, British, and Dutch) investment, with very few locally owned wells, but in 1975 the petroleum industry was nationalized. Natural gas is also obtained.