Venezuela Weighs OPEC Exit as US Discusses Stake in Oil Fields
Venezuela’s output has risen this year, and officials say leaving OPEC could let the country maximize production without quota limits.
- According to people familiar with the matter, Venezuela is closely examining plans to leave OPEC, delivering a fresh blow to the oil cartel it helped create more than six decades ago.
- This potential move illustrates the political realignment in Caracas since President Donald Trump ousted Maduro on Jan 3, with the Trump administration restoring diplomatic ties and engaging in direct talks with Venezuelan officials.
- Washington is negotiating a deal to take a large stake in Venezuelan oil fields, where the country pumped 1.16 million barrels a day in July amid deepening ties with the Trump administration.
- Leaving would free Venezuela from potential output quotas, helping it maximize production; the United Arab Emirates announced its own departure from the cartel just four months ago.
- Venezuela helped found OPEC in 1960 through diplomatic efforts by oil minister Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo, but the cartel's influence has ebbed as massive discoveries in Guyana and Brazil dilute its dominance over global production.
30 Articles
30 Articles
Venezuela is reportedly considering leaving OPEC, an organization it co-founded. The Caracas government is said to have discussed this possibility with US officials, while Washington is reportedly conducting advanced negotiations to secure a stake in Venezuela's major oil fields.
Venezuela is considering leaving the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which it was a founding member in 1960. According to Bloomberg, the possibility of leaving is also being discussed in talks with US officials. At the same time, Washington is discussing with Caracas the possibility of acquiring a significant stake in Venezuelan oil fields, something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
The spectacular Washington-Caracas rapprochement threatens the cohesion of the oil cartel with a new blow - The goal is to attract American capital and increase production in the long term
According to the sources, the withdrawal file was the focus of discussions between Venezuelan officials and their American counterparts, but the final decision has not yet been taken. Although Venezuela's weight within OPEC has been reduced by sanctions and internal disturbances that pushed its production to less than half of its levels a decade ago, its departure from OPEC, according to observers, may reinforce doubts about OPEC's coherence and…
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