Daniel Yergin has an excellent piece on the destruction of Venezuela’s oil industry, here…
”Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world—larger than Saudi Arabia’s—and was for decades one of the powerhouses of world oil production. But Mr. Maduro’s policies are making it an increasingly minor producer. Today Venezuela produces only a 10th of what Saudi Arabia does. Last year the U.S. added more new oil production than Venezuela’s total output. North Dakota now produces more oil than Venezuela.
The industry has been deteriorating since President Hugo Chávez launched a political takeover of the state oil company, PdVSA, in 2002-03. This led to a drastic fall in investment, a huge exodus of industry professionals, decay in wells and infrastructure, and theft of equipment and materials. Under Mr. Maduro, who took over after Chavez’s death in 2013, the decline has accelerated. In 2015, he began to hand control of PdVSA to the military, and in 2017 appointed a general to be both company president and energy minister.“
and this:
”Meanwhile China is quietly hedging its position by opening channels of communication with the Guaidó government.”
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