Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro moved to increase the military’s involvement in the country’s oil and mining industries with the creation of a new state company that will report to the Defense Ministry. The military company was authorized to participate in a range of oil services and mining activities including the maintenance of wells and drilling rigs, transport and the commercialization of chemicals, according the official gazette dated Feb. 10 and distributed Friday. It didn’t specify how it would work with state driller Petroleos de Venezuela SA. The Oil Ministry declined to comment. The decree fueled speculation that the armed forces are increasing their activity in the economy as Maduro battles an opposition-controlled Congress and the oil-dependent country heads closer to defaulting on its foreign debt amid near 12-year-low crude prices. Venezuela’s benchmark dollar bond […]