Venezuela could pay with oil for COVID-19 vaccines, Nicolas Maduro, the President of the struggling South American nation that is home to the world’s biggest oil reserves, said on Sunday. Venezuela was struggling with the collapse of its economy and oil production even before the pandemic. COVID-19, however, exacerbated the crisis as oil prices plunged in 2020 while Venezuela continued to struggle with reversing the decline in its oil production. Crude oil exports have also significantly dropped since the United States imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil exports in early 2019, essentially banning American refiners from importing oil from Venezuela. “Venezuela has the oil vessels and has the customers who will buy our oil,” Reuters quoted Maduro as saying during a television address on Sunday. “We are ready and prepared for oil for vaccines, but we will not beg anyone,” Maduro added. According to Maduro, Venezuela has two options to […]