Venezuela is opening up to foreign investment in its oil industry, President Nicolas Maduro said this week, in a bid to reverse a catastrophic drop in its output under the weight of U.S. sanctions. Jorge Jraissati reported for Anadolu Agency this week that Maduro said in its annual accountability speech that Venezuela will aim to pump 1.5 million barrels of oil daily, which will need help from foreign partners. Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA already has foreign partners, in all fairness. However, foreign investments in Venezuela’s oil industry are capped at 49 percent of any given project to protect state control of the industry. Now, with the industry—and Venezuela’s whole economy—in tatters, this may have to change. Indeed, a year ago, there were reports that the Caracas regime was ready to cede control of its oil industry to a foreign company, with names such as Russia’s Rosneft, Spain’s Repsol, […]