Maracaibo, Venezuela · UTC-4 ☆

Maracaibo sits on the western shore of Lake Maracaibo in northwestern Venezuela, above one of the western hemisphere’s largest oil reserves. It runs on Venezuela Standard Time, UTC-4, the fixed offset that Venezuela has kept year-round since returning to it in 2016.

two clock changes and a net zero

Hugo Chávez moved Venezuela’s clocks back by 30 minutes in 2007, shifting from UTC-4 to UTC-4:30, citing better alignment with solar time and energy savings from more morning daylight. [1] It was a controversial and internationally unusual move: Venezuela became one of a handful of countries in the world on a half-hour offset.

In 2016, under Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela moved the clocks forward by 30 minutes again, back to UTC-4. The official reason was an electricity crisis driven by low water levels at the country’s main hydroelectric dams: the change was said to save power by shifting activity into daylight hours. [2] The net effect of both changes was a return to the pre-Chávez offset, having spent nine years at UTC-4:30.

Maracaibo’s oil infrastructure, the derricks that dot the lake, operate on continuous shifts. The civil clock matters for administration and communication, while the wells themselves run on industrial time.

9am in Maracaibo is 1pm in London during European winter.

Read more about time in Venezuela →