Maduro overthrow in oil-rich Venezuela unlikely to shake energy markets in the near term

In this article

President Donald Trump’s overthrow of President Nicolas Maduro in oil-rich Venezuela is unlikely to shock energy markets in the near term, analysts told CNBC on Saturday.

While the scale of the U.S. attack was unexpected, markets had already priced in a conflict with Venezuela that would disrupt oil exports, said Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, chief analyst and head of research at A/S Global Risk Management.

Venezuela, a founding member of OPEC, has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. But the South American nation currently produces less than a million oil barrels a day, which is less than 1% of global oil production, according to Rasmussen.

It exports just about half its production, or some 500,000 barrels, Rasmussen said. The conflict also comes as the global oil market is oversupplied and demand is relatively weak, a pattern that is customary in the first quarter of the year, he said.