WASHINGTON, January 5. /TASS/. It will be difficult for large US companies to return to oil production in Venezuela due to its peculiarities and the situation on world markets, American energy expert Tom Kloza told TASS.
"One has to go back 50 years to find a Venezuela that allowed multinational oil companies free reign in the country. Getting entities like ExxonMobil or Conoco to return to a country that bilked them out of billions [of dollars] will not be easy," said Kloza, who is currently the chief oil market analyst at the American consulting firm Turner Mason & Co. and also runs his own consulting firm, Kloza Advisors LLC.
According to the expert, oil from the Middle East or the Permian Basin in the southwestern US is easy to extract. "Figure that Venezuelan oil is very difficult oil thanks to challenging geography, high sulfur, low gravity, and a very viscous nature that only very sophisticated refiners can deal with. Don’t be surprised to see huge disparities in the 'break-even' numbers that oil analysts come up with for the country (Venezuela - TASS)," Kloza noted. According to him, Venezuelan oil "competes with Canadian heavy crude which as of Friday was worth about $44 per barrel in Alberta (which is $13 cheaper than WTI oil)."
"If the country slips into complete chaos and exports do the same, the world might lose one million barrels per day at most," Kloza pointed out. He explained that in 2025, oil market supply exceeded demand by about 1.5 million barrels per day. This year, that figure could rise to 2.8 million barrels per day. According to the expert, "the implication is that a total loss of Venezuelan oil cannot tighten sloppy global markets."
On January 3, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto said that the US had attacked civilian and military targets in Caracas. He called Washington's actions military aggression. A state of emergency has been declared in the country. US President Donald Trump confirmed that his country had launched large-scale strikes on Venezuela. According to him, Maduro and his wife were captured and taken out of the country. According to CNN, they have been taken to the US and are currently being detained in a center in Brooklyn, south of New York City.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that Washington would take over the temporary administration of Venezuela. In addition, the US leader expressed confidence that Washington would obtain compensation for American oil companies from Caracas. According to him, these companies will allocate funds to restore Venezuela's oil infrastructure.