Venezuela Oil Catastrophe

The US may reimpose sanctions on Venezuela because of Nicolas Maduro’s dictatorial regime. The Treasury Department grants the licenses, which may expire. Among the problems this could cause is that Venezuela is an oil-producing nation. With crude rising toward $100, the expiration could put more upward pressure on the commodity.

Big Oil’s Problems –City And State Lawsuits

According to Bloomberg, “The Biden administration has been trying to buy as much time as possible before finalizing the decision in hopes for an unlikely breakthrough that could change its plan, the people said. If the license expires, US actions would be taken to ease the impact on Americans and the US oil market.”

America’s Oil Reserves

However, what actions could the US take? America produced more oil in December than any country has in a single month, and it could break that record this year. President Biden has drawn down from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the nation’s emergency source of oil. This is likely to happen again this month. Ironically, the levels have not been replenished because oil prices are too high.

As military and social unrest in the Middle East continues and Ukraine attacks Russian oil assets with drones, the oil pressure is already high. The situation in Venezuela would push it higher.