Venezuela Makes Long-Shot Bid to Revive Ruined Economy With Gas
- Nicolas Maduro sees opportunity in world’s need for fuel
- But industry would need millions of dollars in investment
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Venezuela, the beleaguered oil giant that’s become South America’s poorest nation, sees an economic lifeline beneath the warm and cerulean waters of the Caribbean.
Just 30 miles (50 kilometers) offshore from Caracas lie the Western Hemisphere’s second-largest reserves of natural gas. Yet Venezuela has never exported a molecule of that fuel. Now, with the nation’s oil industry in tatters, President Nicolas Maduro is kicking off a long-shot bid to tap those vast deposits to revive an economy devastated by defaulted debt, rampant inflation and crippling US sanctions.