Venezuela's oil exports to the US fading fast

Collapsing shipments point to deep pain in the country's oil industry

For all the trials and tribulations in Venezuela-US relations over the years, the steady stream of oil tankers ferrying crude from Venezuela's Caribbean ports into America's Gulf Coast has been a reliable bond binding the countries together. Those tankers are increasingly scarce these days. Venezuela's crude exports to the US are having their worst month in 30 years as the country's oil output continues to suffer under a spiraling economic and political crisis. Shipments to the US averaged just 394,000 b/d in the first three weeks of January, the lowest monthly pace since 1988, lower even than the bottom of the crippling 2002-03 oil strikes, according to data from the Energy Information Admi