city, northern Falcón estado (state), northwestern Venezuela. It lies at the southwestern tip of the bulge of the Paraguaná Peninsula, on the shores of the Gulf of Venezuela. Punto Fijo emerged during the 1960s as the peninsula's major urban centre. With the development of large oil refineries there, the small ports of Punta Cardón and Amuay, the airport of Las Piedras, and the town of Punto Fijo grew into one urban-industrial complex. Oil is piped from the Lake Maracaibo fields, and deep-draft tankers have easy access to the refineries. The complex is linked to Coro, the state capital, and to other mainland cities by highway. Pop. (2001) 117,000.