A flag for PDVSA flying next to the Venezuelan flag outside a PDVSA facility. Photo: File photo.
The Venezuelan minister for petroleum and president of Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), Rafael Tellechea, has stated that Venezuela is prepared to face and deal with any circumstances imposed upon it, in response to the announcement made by Washington regarding their resumption of the unilateral coercive measures that it had partially lifted in October 2023 on the Venezuelan oil and gas sector.
“If they impose more sanctions on us, we will be ready to face them, and we will have a powerful industry to handle the global energy crisis,” the minister said this Tuesday, January 30, clarifying that the sanctions against Venezuela have never ceased to exist.
“We have goods and services, already paid by Venezuela, that we have not been able to receive,” Tellechea added. He explained that the partial lifting of sanctions on Venezuela had allowed for transnational companies to come to the country to visualize any type of projects that they could do together.
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It is precisely that kind of opportunity that is why the president of PDVSA also warned that the United States will suffer the consequences of the measures they are taking against Venezuela.
President Nicolás Maduro reported in his annual message to the nation, in early January, that as a result of illegal sanctions, the country had stopped producing 3.993 billion barrels of oil, which translates into a loss of $323 billion.
He also said that these measures generated a decrease in oil production of 87%, pointing out that the country reached its lowest level in 2020, with 339,000 barrels per day, as compared to the 2.5 million that were produced in 2015.
(Últimas Noticias) by Ana Perdigón with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
