In the U.S. embargo on Venezuelan oil, Russia is a clear winner

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

In the U.S. embargo on Venezuelan oil, Russia is a clear winner

By Anthony Faiola and Karen DeYoung
2/6/2020, 6:12:01 p.m.

In the year since the Trump administration declared what amounted to economic war against the Venezuelan government of President Nicolás Maduro — an oil embargo that cut it off from its biggest petroleum buyer, the United States — the move has yielded some clear losers, including U.S. investors now shut out of the market.

It has also produced one clear winner: Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

U.S. officials, oil industry insiders and analysts say secret deals between Moscow and Caracas to produce, transport and sell oil to other markets have become a cash cow for Russia that is earning its state-controlled enterprises an estimated $120 million a month.

The Russians describe their relationship with the South American nation, home to the world’s largest proven oil reserves, as one of “mutual cooperation.” Since Hugo Chávez founded the socialist state in 1999, Russia has become its primary supplier of military equipment and advisers, a consistent supporter in international bodies and a key source of government loans and investment.

But now, observers say, the Russians are to some extent extorting Maduro, Chávez’s successor, who has been boxed in by the United States. ...

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/in-the-us-embargo-on-venezuelan-oil-russia-is-a-clear-winner/2020/02/06/c45ca39e-476e-11ea-91ab-ce439aa5c7c1_story.html

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Told you so six months ago.

Putin even ran several hundred Troops into the Oil Patch in order to protect them from the Natives. Putin's Oil Company also gained control of one or their Refining operations and it's integrated retail market.