Government Energy Policy, Business and Technology

US sanctions on Venezuela could backfire, speakers warn at forum

Oil & Gas Journal: Conditions in Venezuela have deteriorated under the Maduro regime to a point where other countries are beginning to consider ways to intervene and rescue the country’s citizens who haven’t fled already, speakers suggested during a Mar. 13 discussion at the Atlantic Council. But the US would make a serious mistake if it applied broad unilateral sanctions to force the government there to make badly needed reforms, one speaker warned.

Targeted sanctions aimed at officials in the government and in state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) have not had their intended effect, noted David L. Goldwyn, president of Goldwyn Global Strategies and chairman of the AC’s Energy Advisory Group. “The government clearly intends to default on most of its debt and depend on Russia and China, its two biggest creditors, to survive,” he said.

Read article