Diosdado Cabello, considered the second most powerful man in Venezuela after President Nicolás Maduro, said on Monday that his country could become a fuel supplier for Europe, but due to financial sanctions that prevent him from carrying out operations like this suggests that restrictions on the sale of its oil be set aside.
“Venezuela has oil, not only for Spain, but for Europe. The only thing is that they have to pay it and they have to pay it at the price it is and, given the circumstances, they have to pay it in advance,” said Cabello, vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, at a press conference.
As a result of US and European sanctions, the hydrocarbons produced by the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) do not have a presence in Europe and other Western countries. Washington froze all Venezuelan government assets in the United States and barred Americans and their international partners from doing business with Caracas to pressure Maduro out of power. He argues that he was elected in 2018 in a fraudulent election.
Europe is hungry for energy due to the embargo on Russian oil imports agreed by European Union leaders after the war in Ukraine.
Even if the conditions were met to open the doors to Venezuela in the international oil market, it would be difficult for this country to be in a position to take advantage of them. Venezuela, once a rich oil country with one of the world’s largest oil reserves, has experienced a drastic drop in its production of crude oil and refined products for more than five years, which has resulted in shortages due to poor supply of fuels and domestic gas, while its presence in the world market is currently marginal.
Critics of the government attribute the collapse of the oil industry to mismanagement and corruption at the state-owned PDVSA corporation under the socialist governments of now-deceased President Hugo Chávez and Maduro, his successor.