Chinese, Russian Claims on Venezuela Oil Now Seen as Tenuous

The future of billions of barrels of Venezuelan oil that foreign companies are entitled to under current agreements has been thrown into doubt following Washington’s capture of President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend.

State-owned Chinese and Russian companies have some of the biggest claims on the Latin American nation’s oil, Morgan Stanley analysts including Martijn Rats said in a note. Nevertheless, the significant assets are still far outweighed by the more than 200 billion barrels held by Petroleos de Venezuela SA.