Technology has blindsided oil states “The price of oil will hit its floor and it will rise again,” President Nicolas Maduro assured Venezuelans, whose shaky economy depends critically on a high oil price. “Venezuela will continue with its social plans. Venezuela will move forward.” No it won’t, and neither will Russia, Iran or Nigeria. The only major oil exporters that are not in deep trouble are the Arab countries, whose governments have some room to manoeuvre because of low production costs, relatively small populations and big foreign currency reserves. Since June, the cost of a barrel of Brent crude, the benchmark for world oil prices, has fallen by almost a quarter, from around $110 a barrel (where it was stuck for the past four years) to just above $80 a barrel. Last month, for the first time in decades, Nigeria exported no oil at all to the United States. […]