US sanctions on PDVSA, which Trump administration officials estimate could cut oil Venezuelan output by roughly 600,000 by the end of 2019, were designed to prevent further damage to Venezuela’s oil industry, Francis R. Fannon, assistant secretary for the US State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources, said Wednesday. “Our sanctions are targeted in a way and they’re structured in a way to preserve the assets of Venezuela,” Fannon said in an interview with S&P Global Platts on the sidelines of CERAWeek by IHS Markit. “We certainly don’t want to see them deteriorate.” If sanctions are lifted, which the US says is only possible if Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro leaves office, analysts say it will take several years and billions of dollars in foreign investment to return oil output to levels seen even in early […]