Jan. 8 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump is betting on reactivating Venezuela's oil industry within 18 months as a central pillar of his strategy toward the country, following the capture of former President Nicolas Maduro in an operation carried out by U.S. forces.
To that end, his administration is promoting agreements with U.S. companies to resume crude exports to the United States, while seeking to preserve internal stability in Venezuela and reduce the political and security risks that have deterred foreign investment.
Despite the optimism expressed in Washington, analysts and experts consulted by UPI agree that the reactivation of Venezuela's oil sector faces an environment marked by high political uncertainty, deep structural constraints and institutional deterioration that cannot be resolved through investment or limited licenses alone.
Venezuela holds one of the world's largest proven crude reserves and has low geological risk for oil production, a combination that for decades placed the country among the leading global energy producers. Today, however, the industry operates far from that past.
Venezuelan economist Antero Alvarado, director of Gas Energy Latin America Argentina, said the country is running on two different timelines. One is a long-term horizon filled with opportunity. The other is a short-term outlook dominated by politics.
