How a New Venezuela Can Avoid the Oil Curse
Reforming Chavez-era petroleum laws can revive a formerly varied and vibrant economy.
Photographer: Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images
With the U.S. issuing new sanctions against Venezuela’s oil industry this week, President Nicolas Maduro looks increasingly less likely to survive. How could a new government leverage the country’s vast oil resources to alleviate the humanitarian and economic crisis?
Although the U.S., Russia and Saudi Arabia are the world’s largest oil producers, Venezuela actually has the largest reserves — 303 billion barrels of recoverable oil, according to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Even though some of this oil is going to be difficult and expensive to get out of the ground, Venezuela should be producing much more oil than the current 1.17 million barrels per day. Two decades ago, it briefly produced almost 3.5 million barrels per day.