The Venezuelan National Assembly will consider reforms to the country’s oil law that will open the door to “new business models,” President Nicolas Maduro said this week, as quoted by Reuters. Maduro did not offer any details on the reforms and what these new business models would entail. The statement appears to be the latest attempt by the Venezuelan government to reverse a seemingly irreversible downturn in the country’s oil industry, resulting from years of underinvestment, mismanagement, and U.S. sanctions. The current law states that PDVSA must hold majority stakes in any oil venture with foreign and local private companies, and is the only entity allowed to market Venezuelan oil. PDVSA has joint ventures with Russian and Chinese companies, and it operated a joint venture with Chevron until President Trump ordered the major to leave Venezuela last year. Reports said that even though PDVSA was the majority partner in […]