The Venezuelan Gas Shortage

If Venezuela is one of the leading producers of oil in the world, why would they need to import oil? In 1923 oil was discovered in Venezuela. It was then developed and exploited by US oil companies. The leftist government negotiated favorable terms for Venezuela in the 1940s, after which the economy grew continuously, eventually becoming the strongest in South America. In fact, in 1950 oil was the main reason Venezuela was the wealthiest country in the world. Yes, the wealthiest country in the world! Venezuela is suffering gasoline shortages despite having the world's largest oil reserves; Venezuelan refineries are operating significantly below capacity because they are facing operational problems due to a lack of maintenance and investment. Falling output at refineries means that Venezuela needs to import more gasoline, putting pressure on the national budget even further. Refineries are currently working at 30 percent less than the average 2016 levels. PDVSA, a state-run oil company, is importing between 100 and 150 thousand barrels per day of gasoline. Several tankers are waiting off the coast of Venezuela to discharge cargoes as the PDVSA has difficulties to pay their ship bills, which causes a penalty of $26,000 per tanker per day. This has caused a serious lack of gasoline in Venezuela. Hours-long lines, gas station closings, causing life-altering situations. Citizens are missing days of work to sit in line for gas, which means it may be cheap, but missing days of work makes it very expensive. The government has tried to cut this shortfall by importing gasoline from the U.S., yet they are only able to provide half of the countries gasoline needs. This has truly shown the real face of a dictatorship. The country's people are famished, gasoline shortages only make it harder to transport food into the main cities that aren't close to the coast. The president, through all of this, has kept the capital of Caracas well supplied. Keeping Caracas well supplied seems to be politically motivated favoritism to avoid further anti-government protests. Critics say the only way to put pressure on the government is to protest and request presidential elections. Yet, the government has made a democratic solution unlikely as they have maintained every branch in the Venezuelan administration.