Given that Venezuela has the most oil reserves in the world, why isn’t the country as rich as Saudi Arabia? Also, why have so many of the major oil companies stopped operating there?

Question

Given that Venezuela has the most oil reserves in the world, why isn’t the country as rich as Saudi Arabia? Also, why have so many of the major oil companies stopped operating there?

In: 8

Answer 1

Venezuela’s oil is extraordinarily low quality, and a major reason why their economy functioned was because the Mecca of refining crude oil, Galveston, was within spitting distance. They also did rather well in the 2000s, when the price of oil was skyrocketing.

>Also, why have so many of the major oil companies stopped operating there?

Because their country fell apart when the price of oil tanked in the 2010s, entirely because the Government did nothing to diversify their economy. They also bent over backwards to annoy the nation that their oil exports were reliant on (i.e. the US), and somehow were surprised when that country ditched their oil the moment it became a realistic proposition.

Answer 2

Venezuela’s oil is extraordinarily low quality, and a major reason why their economy functioned was because the Mecca of refining crude oil, Galveston, was within spitting distance. They also did rather well in the 2000s, when the price of oil was skyrocketing.

>Also, why have so many of the major oil companies stopped operating there?

Because their country fell apart when the price of oil tanked in the 2010s, entirely because the Government did nothing to diversify their economy. They also bent over backwards to annoy the nation that their oil exports were reliant on (i.e. the US), and somehow were surprised when that country ditched their oil the moment it became a realistic proposition.