Trump administration sets meetings with oil companies over Venezuela, source says

[dutch777]

11. It could go a lot of different ways. Lots of X factors in the equation.

You are right, anyone who did their homework knows getting increased production from VZ fields is not as simple as opening a valve.

Where it gets dicey is what all the OTHER oil players do regarding production increases/price lowering and that is even more dynamic if Russia has the sanctions pulled. While China has interest in VZ oil, it is like all its other key resource interests, they like to have a wide range of suppliers to choose from so they don't get in the position we are on rare earth minerals-- just one or two suppliers who can get uppity. And they like to have right of first refusal and will pay a signing bonus for that contractual position. They have an inside track on RU oil now and will likely maintain that, if they want, if RU has sanctions lifted or not. At that point China may shop by price but likelihood they will have a supply problem short of us embargoing/sanctioning them is slim. They have more free cash than anyone in the game and as they are showing in silver and other strategic metals price is rarely a deterrent for them.

As to a potential guerrilla problem, it depends on how the US "running VZ" rolls out. If they can be largely self managing politically and get most of the profits from the oil sold then there could well be no issue assuming their economy gets back on track and sanctions are lifted. If Donnie gets heavy handed and overly greedy then it is going to feel like Colonialism 2.0 (or maybe 3.0) and that could lead to issues.