Nicolás Maduro, the country’s autocratic president, may make that difficult
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskEven before Russia’s war in Ukraine, Venezuela had been producing more oil. Over the past year, it doubled its output to around 800,000 barrels a day. Although that is a fraction of the 3m it produced in the 1990s, it is enough to replace the 199,000 barrels a day the United States imported from Russia in 2021. Several American refineries were built to process viscous Venezuelan crude specifically.
If Mr Biden is considering a detente with Venezuela, it would not just be for economic reasons. He may hope to exploit the war in Ukraine to drive a wedge between Venezuela and Russia, one of its closest allies. Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, became interested in the South American country after the United States suggested in 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia could eventually become members of.
Mr Maduro may also be concerned that, now Russia is a pariah, too, it will become a competitor in selling cut-price oil. Since 2020 China has been the main buyer of Venezuelan crude. But importing oil from halfway around the world makes little sense if Russian oil is going begging on China’s doorstep.
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