The U.S. sanctions against Venezuela are affecting consumers worldwide and are an attack on the oil market, Venezuelan Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo said on Thursday. The minister, speaking at an OPEC International Seminar today—a day before OPEC ministers meet to discuss how much production to bring back to the market to ‘ease consumer and market anxiety’—Venezuela’s Quevedo said, as carried by Platts: “These sanctions are very strong, the sanctions are practically immobilizing PDVSA.” “They are trying to asphyxiate PDVSA,” the minister added. “It affects not just the Venezuelan oil sector but the consumers worldwide,” Quevedo said, referring to the sanctions. “It’s an attack on the oil market. Oil is an instrument for development, not an instrument for a political attack.” The U.S. has been stepping up sanctions against Venezuela, after cutting off all access of PDVSA and its sovereign to U.S. banks, and cutting off all refinancing of new […]