Energy Opportunities Will Abound In Venezuela If Leadership Ever Changes

Energy Opportunities Will Abound In Venezuela If Leadership Ever Changes

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, on ... [+] August 16, 2021. As the energy world adjusts to the idea – theoretically, at least – of becoming less oil dependent, one of many unknown pieces is how it will impact an oil-rich country like Venezuela. The distressed South American country plays no small role in the global energy saga: It owns one of the world's largest oil reserves, and until the last two years, was a main supplier of oil for U. S. refineries. This ability to sell its oil to a top market once made it one of the richest South American countries, all centered on an oil production of more than 3. 4 million barrels per day (bpd). This history could enable Venezuela to re-open its energy sector to the investment world, potentially attracting billions of dollars, if its leadership changes. "Venezuela's oil sector opening could represent for U. S. companies major investment opportunities, even bigger than the most recent energy reforms in the region, if democracy and rule of law returns to the country," said Julian Cardenas, an energy law professor at the University of Houston. (Cardenas is also a board