When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Economy

Saddam, Putin, Maduro: How Dictators See Their Oil Differently

The West is paying the price for buying oil from one tyrant in Russia, and must think carefully before rushing to Venezuela to do the same with another dictatorship. Business is not always business.

photo of a highway with a billboard and smoke in the distance

'We will become a global superpower in petrochemicals. Don't doubt it!'' is written on a billboard of late Venezeulan President Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro.

DPA via ZUMA
Julio Borges

-Analysis-

CARACAS — The geopolitical conflicts that have erupted in the world since 1988 have had a direct impact on oil prices. The Iran-Iraq war, Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, the West's massive operations in Iraq, and now Russia's barbaric invasion of Ukraine confirm this. Prices began to rise as soon as President Vladimir Putin began bombing the Ukrainians, going from $83 a barrel to over $100 and considerably further at points of maximum global commotion.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

In this new energy context, as Russia faces sanctions and with sharply rising crude prices, Venezuela has recovered a measure of public relevance as some argue it could become a reliable hydrocarbons supplier able to compensate for the energy shortfall resulting from the war. It is a reasonable idea considering Venezuela has the world's largest crude reserves.


The destruction of Venezuela's oil industry

Nevertheless, Venezuela is far from being able to influence the state of oil supplies in the global market. The destruction of our oil industry under the dictatorial regime of Nicolás Maduro is unprecedented in its scope. The country's oil production has dropped 70% in the past 20 years, which means going from producing three million barrels of crude a day to barely 700,000. The deterioration is so significant we are effectively producing the same amount of crude as 80 years ago.

Venezuela cannot become a reliable oil supplier before there is a transition to democracy there.

The Maduro regime tries to confuse the world by confounding the origins of this shocking breakdown. It has brazenly unleashed a propaganda offensive to blame international sanctions for this exceptional decline when it is commonly known that the oil industry was already severely stressed before sanctions were imposed. It was rather the expropriations, the industry's politicization, absence of a stable legal setting, corruption, the flight of trained managers and declining investments that brought down the country's veteran oil sector.

Years of political decisions have deprived Venezuela of its most important resource and brought alongside it an incalculable economic collapse and humanitarian crisis that have turned six million Venezuelans into refugees.

Another tool of political dominance

So it is unlikely the country could raise its crude production in the midst of this period of high prices. The most optimistic analysts say it could at most add 100,000-200,000 barrels a day to its production over six months, which is barely a fraction of the shortfall from Russia.

To revert the decline and restore production to the levels of past years, the sector is believed to require investments of around U.S. $100 billion over 10 years. And that money will not come in without changes to restore the rule of law if only as a basis for the juridical guarantees the investments will need.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

In other words, Venezuela cannot become a reliable oil supplier before there is a transition to democracy there. While Maduro remains in power, the only thing that will grow is the corruption that feeds the gang sitting on Venezuelans' dreams of freedom.

Today, the free world is paying the price of its energy dependence on Russia. The idea of disconnecting energy purchases from a tyrant's geopolitical projects proved deadly, and that is precisely what the world's leading countries must bear in mind now.

Dictatorships do not do business. They merely use commercial ties as one more tool of political dominance.

*Julio Borges is a former Venezuelan legislator and former foreign affairs spokesman for the opposition.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Geopolitics

Geert Wilders, The Europe Union's Biggest Problem Since Brexit

The victory of Geert Wilders' far-right party in this week's elections in the Netherlands shows that politics in Europe, at both the national and European Union level, has fundamentally failed to overcome its contradictions.

Geert Wilders, The Europe Union's Biggest Problem Since Brexit

A campaign poster of Geert Wilders, who leads the Party for Freedom (PVV) taken in the Hague, Netherlands

Pierre Haski

Updated Nov. 28, 2023 at 6:15 p.m.

-Analysis-

PARIS — For a long time, Geert Wilders, recognizable by his peroxide hair, was an eccentric, disconcerting and yet mostly marginal figure in Dutch politics. He was known for his public outbursts against Muslims, particularly Moroccans who are prevalent in the Netherlands, which once led to a court convicting him for the collective insulting of a nationality.

Consistently ranking third or fourth in poll results, this time he emerged as the leader in Wednesday's national elections. The shock is commensurate with his success: 37 seats out of 150, twice as many as in the previous legislature.

For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.

The recipe is the same everywhere: a robustly anti-immigration agenda that capitalizes on fears. Wilders' victory in the Netherlands reflects a prevailing trend across the continent, from Sweden to Portugal, Italy and France.

We must first see if Wilders manages to put together the coalition needed to govern. Already the first roadblock came this week with the loss of one of his top allies scouting for coalition partners from other parties: Gom van Strien, a senator in Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) was forced to resign from his role after accusations of fraud resurfaced in Dutch media.

Nonetheless, at least three lessons can be drawn from Wilders' far-right breakthrough in one of the founding countries of the European Union.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest