Thursday, November 5, 2020

Venezuela's Oil Industry Has Collapsed (Update)

US sanctions have hit the Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA hard [File: Isaac Urrutia/Reuters]


Last week was devastating for Venezuela, its people and nearly collapsed oil industry. Oil production since the start of 2020 has fallen catastrophically to multi-decade lows, the extremely fragile economy continues to contract and poorly maintained infrastructure keeps failing. Washington is turning the screws on Maduro’s regime, imposing ever tighter sanctions aimed at isolating Caracas from economically crucial global energy and financial markets. The near implosion of Venezuela’s oil industry is evident from crude oil inventories rising at a savage clip. 


WNU Editor: Venezuela is Latin America's "poster child" on what a failed state looks like. But those who have the gold (or dollars), they are prospering like kings in this failed state .... As Venezuelans Starve, Luxury Dollar Economy Booms in Caracas (Bloomberg). 

Update: He wants to see for himself on how bad is the situation .... Iran foreign minister arrives in Venezuela to start Latin America tour (Reuters). 

Update #2: Joe Biden is on the record that he wants to resume talks with Venezuela and Iran .... What would a Joe Biden presidency mean for Venezuela? (Al Jazeera). My prediction is that Biden , under pressure from progressives in his administration, will remove some sanctions on Venezuela within a few months.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...


I have a feeling most Venezuelans would prefer Maduro was back behind the wheel of his bus again.

Anonymous said...

It seems like this headline shows up every month or so.

Anonymous said...

Anon 2:21: Right! Venezuela keeps 'failing' but when is it going to 'fail'??