Venezuela courting disaster
A Supreme Court ruling has given the president broad authority to strike oil deals. Will there be any takers?
Venezuela's economic and political crisis only seems to know one direction: descent. The latest lurch towards the abyss came after a 30 March decision from the Supreme Court, stacked with loyalists to social president Nicolás Maduro, that effectively dissolved the opposition-led National Assembly and assumed the body's powers for itself. The decision triggered an intense backlash that clearly caught the government off guard. Weeks of protests in the streets of Caracas followed. The head of the Organisation of American States, Luis Almagro, decried the decision as a "self-inflicted coup d'état" and called Maduro's government a "dictatorship". It was even a step too far for at least one person
Also in this section
16 January 2026
The country’s global energy importance and domestic political fate are interlocked, highlighting its outsized oil and gas powers, and the heightened fallout risk
16 January 2026
The global maritime oil transport sector enters 2026 facing a rare convergence of crude oversupply, record newbuild deliveries and the potential easing of several geopolitical disruptions that have shaped trade flows since 2022
15 January 2026
Rebuilding industry, energy dominance and lower energy costs are key goals that remain at odds in 2026
14 January 2026
Chavez’s socialist reforms boosted state control but pushed knowledge and capital out of the sector, opening the way for the US shale revolution
