Some gasoline stations in Venezuela were unusually empty on Wednesday, as regional authorities banned queuing for gasoline as part of a nationwide quarantine to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, but motor fuel has grown increasingly scarce in the past year due to U.S. sanctions aimed at ousting President Nicolas Maduro, as well as dropping output at state owned oil company PDVSA’s refineries. Hours-long queues at gas stations have become a common sight. The bans on queues ordered by regional authorities this week for three states come as the risks of acute fuel shortages rise. So far in March, just 71,250 barrels per day (bpd) of fuel have been discharged at Venezuelan ports, compared to rates of 166,000 bpd in January and 177,000 in February, according to PDVSA documents seen by Reuters and Refinitiv Eikon data. Approximately […]