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US oil sanctions take effect on Venezuela as crisis intensifies
WASHINGTON, April 28, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US sanctions came into effect
Sunday to block Venezuela’s economic lifeline of oil exports, in what
Washington hopes will be a major blow in its fledgling campaign to topple
leftist President Nicolas Maduro.
As of 12:01 am Washington time (0401 GMT), the United States will take
action against anyone who deals with state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, or
PDVSA, or any entity in which the company holds at least a 50 percent stake.
It is among a volley of steps by President Donald Trump’s administration
to oust Maduro and install opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized
by more than 50 countries, including most in Latin America.
Just Friday, the Trump administration said it would block any US assets of
Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, confirming it has no desire to negotiate with
Maduro, a socialist firebrand who presides over a crumbling economy but has
withstood three months of intense pressure.
Until the crisis, Venezuela exported 500,00 barrels a day to the United
States, its largest customer, with PDVSA omnipresent, if not highly visible,
through ownership of the Citgo refining and gas station chain.
The United States has already moved to put Citgo under the control of
Guaido, who appointed his own board.
Even though sanctions legally came into force Sunday, “the reality is that
the oil trade between the United States and Venezuela has been absolutely
limited and fallen sharply,” said Mariano de Alba, a Washington-based
international law expert from Venezuela.
But the sanctions will still have an effect, with Washington vowing to
enforce them against any foreign company with interactions in the United
States — including the US financial system, which dominates the globe.
As of Sunday, “there is no doubt that the sanctions are in force and that
any company assumes bigger risks than they did before this date,” de Alba
said.
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– Searching for customers –
Energy-hungry India was the third-biggest buyer of Venezuelan oil in 2017
after the United States and China and until recently had been a major source
of cash.
But Indian companies have backed off in the face of US sanctions, making
China and Russia the crucial economic and political backers of Maduro —
whose re-election last year was widely criticized for irregularities.
The sanctions take effect just as global oil markets are trending higher
after the United States similarly demanded that all countries, notably India
and China, stop buying oil from Iran.
Oil is the blood of Venezuela’s crippled economy, accounting for 96
percent of exports.
The country nonetheless is facing a major economic crisis, with
projections that inflation could soar to a mind-boggling 10 million percent
this year.
Some 2.7 million Venezuelans have fled since 2015 faced with shortage of
basic goods and medicine, according to UN figures.
One immediate problem for Venezuela is not its exports but its imports. It
used to rely on 120,000 barrels of light crude each day from the United
States to blend with its heavier oil. It will need to turn to other suppliers
to sell its own crude, increasing production costs.
US-based consultancy Rapidan Energy Group says PDVSA’s production could
temporarily fall by 200,000 barrels a day.
It would be a stunning further reduction for PDVSA which pumped 3.2
million a day in 2008, a figure that had nosedived to just 840,000 in March.
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– Blaming Maduro –
The United States has wasted no opportunity to blame Maduro and his late
predecessor Hugo Chavez for Venezuela’s economic woes — with Trump also
trying to link their socialism to his Democratic foes at home.
Elliott Abrams, the US envoy leading the effort to oust Maduro, promised
that “tens of billions of dollars” will flow into Venezuela to rebuild its
economy.
“That recovery can only start when there is a fully inclusive government
that represents all Venezuelans,” Abrams said Thursday.
But a study by two prominent left-leaning US economists, Mark Weisbrot and
Jeffrey Sachs, warned that the growing sanctions will “vastly” harm ordinary
Venezuelans.
The study, released by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, found
that Venezuela recorded more than 40,000 additional deaths between 2017 and
2018 as they blamed sanctions for shortages of food and medicine.
“American sanctions are deliberately aiming to wreck Venezuela’s economy
and thereby lead to regime change,” Sachs said.
“It’s a fruitless, heartless, illegal and failed policy, causing grave
harm to the Venezuelan people.”
BSS/AFP/HR/1030