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Page added on February 13, 2018
Venezuela oil production is plummeting
Venezuela’s main source of cash is dwindling at a breathtaking pace.
The country’s oil output in January fell to its lowest level in nearly 30 years, not including a brief oil strike in 2003, according to S&P Global Platts.
A monthly OPEC report published Monday revealed Venezuela pumped 1.6 million barrels of oil per day last month. Production in January was down 20% from a year ago.
The staggering decline is another sign of Venezuela’s economic and political crisis. The country is heading toward a presidential election in April that international critics are already labeling fraudulent.
Venezuela has more crude oil than any other country in the world and it heavily depends on the commodity to power its economy. Crude oil makes up about 95% of Venezuela’s exports. The country has no other source of foreign income.
Yet the government-owned oil company, PDVSA, has pumped less and less oil for the last few years because of corruption, crumbling infrastructure and a massive debt crisis.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have fled the country of 30 million in recent years. Those who can’t leave are suffering from food and medical shortages, rampant crime and soaring prices on all types of goods. Inflation is expected to shoot up 13,000% this year, according to the IMF.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is expected to tighten his grip of power after the April 22 election. He has already barred prominent opposition candidates from running because their political parties didn’t participate in gubernatorial elections last year. The Trump administration, along with several other governments, has labeled Maduro a dictator. Maduro claims the U.S. and others are waging an economic war against Venezuela.
The United States could get tougher on Maduro very soon. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last week on his tour of Latin American countries that the administration is still considering a ban on Venezuelan crude oil exports to the United States.
Experts say a complete oil ban would be a devastating blow to Venezuela’s economy and Maduro’s political fortunes.
8 Comments on "Venezuela oil production is plummeting"
dave thompson on Tue, 13th Feb 2018 2:04 pm
From Wiki; Venezuela’s crude oil is very heavy by international standards, and as a result much of it must be processed by specialized domestic and international refineries.
The second problem is that Venezuela kicked out the US oil companies a few years back causing all sorts of destructive economic sanctions from the US.
Any country with oil that does not bow down to US imperialism is screwed over, Libya, Iraq, Iran to name a few.
Boat on Tue, 13th Feb 2018 2:28 pm
Dave
Would you do business with a country that doesn’t pay it’s bills?
China went another rout and just kept loaning, to the tune of 50 billion the last I read. We’ll see if imperial China ends up with that oil. You gonna call that good business then?
dave thompson on Tue, 13th Feb 2018 2:41 pm
What bills are those Boat? the ones the world bank hands out knowing full well that they can never be repaid?
GregT on Tue, 13th Feb 2018 2:54 pm
“Would you do business with a country that doesn’t pay it’s bills?”
Doing business, and imposing destructive economic sanctions, are not the same things Boat. And as per usual, the sanctions are effecting an entire country full of people, not the individuals that are supposedly being targeted.
Juan Martinez on Tue, 13th Feb 2018 3:25 pm
Lack of investments since 2004 and extreme corruption is the real cause.
From 2004 to 2012 venezuelan oil production was falling on average 5% per year. After prices crashed, from 2014 there are no investments in oil and gas, and none of especialized services contractors has received one dollar payment. Examples: Halliburton and Schlumberger.
Sanctions from USA government are not the reason for this disaster, only Chavez, Maduro and their colaborators.
Jose Delgado on Tue, 13th Feb 2018 4:48 pm
Parade of incompetent fools pretty much sums up Venezuela’s government. No wonder cannibalism is making a comeback.
maría-elena on Wed, 14th Feb 2018 11:30 am
What are we talking about? Sanctions may be a blow for Venezuela as a whole, but not as hard a blow as the devastation of anopther six or more and more and more years of – what do we call it? – It’s not even socialism of communism – it’s more like sociopathic narco-thuggism …
dave thompson on Wed, 14th Feb 2018 6:37 pm
Any Country/Government that goes against the wishes of US imperialistic empire and exploitation, automatically will be systematically destroyed by the US.
The blame will then be placed on the leaders of said Government, by the US corporate main stream media as dictated by the CIA, to focus only on how corrupt or incompetent the leaders or ideology of the country are.