Venezuela, traditionally a prominent oil exporter, will make a sharply smaller contribution to the global oil market in 2017 as an acute political and economic crisis affects its crude production, Columbia University said in a report released on Tuesday As the political opposition pushes for elections to replace President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s economy has worsened, creating doubts about the ability of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member to pay its external debt. Its largest industry, oil, is slowing down and showing signs of mismanagement. “It is the underlying trend in Venezuelan crude production that constitutes the most important risk ahead for oil markets,” said Luisa Palacios, senior managing director at Medley Global Advisors and fellow at Columbia’s University Center on Global Energy Policy. Global oversupply of 1 million […]