Experts say Trump's plan to seize and revitalize Venezuela's oil industry faces major hurdles
PBS••nation
Key Points:
- President Donald Trump's plan to take control of Venezuela's oil industry and have American companies revitalize it is unlikely to cause an immediate impact on oil prices due to Venezuela's neglected infrastructure and current global oil surplus.
- Venezuela's oil production has drastically declined from 3.5 million barrels per day in 1999 to about 1.1 million barrels today, largely due to corruption, mismanagement, and U.S. sanctions, with significant investment and political stability needed to restore output.
- Despite having the world's largest proven crude oil reserves (approximately 303 billion barrels), Venezuela's oil industry requires about $100 billion and a decade to potentially increase production to historic levels.
- American oil companies, including Chevron which currently operates in Venezuela, are cautious
