New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Why oil-rich Venezuela still struggles to pay its bills
30/7/2025
8 min read
Feature
Venezuela is a byword for economic degradation. A country with the world’s richest oil reserves still struggles to get its wealth out of the ground, and its energy infrastructure forever teeters on the point of collapse. Yet so many of Venezuela’s economic wounds are self-inflicted, with natural advantages and opportunities squandered. Meanwhile, Cuba also grapples with its renewable energy plans. Andrew Mourant reports.
It’s hard to point the finger anywhere other than at governments since Hugo Chávez gained power in 1998. In the early 2000s, oil accounted for over 90% of Venezuela’s export revenue and nearly half of its national budget. Until 2006, multinational corporations like ExxonMobil and Chevron played significant roles extracting and refining oil, sharing profits with state-owned oil giant Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
But in 2006 Chávez’s government nationalised the oil industry, demanding a controlling stake in all projects. Some companies complied; others, such as ExxonMobil, left the country. There followed a sharp decline in foreign investment and technical expertise.
Record-high revenues were used to nationalise other industries and expand access to food, housing, healthcare and education. But with state control and centralised planning came a lack of expertise that left Venezuela exposed when a worldwide oil glut caused prices to crash in 2014, the year after Chávez died and was succeeded as President by Nicolas Maduro.