Venezuela's economic situation continues to worsen
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Venezuela's oil production fell 500,000 barrels per day in March from the previous month, the country reported yesterday.
The bottom line: Despite being home to the world's largest proven oil reserves, Venezuela now pumps around 1/10th of OPEC leader Saudi Arabia's output, and about half of what it produced as recently as 2017.
Flashback: In 2014, Venezuela pumped nearly 3 million barrels of oil daily.
Context: The incredible production recession is the result of crippling U.S. sanctions, which, as Bloomberg reported in February, have half a billion dollars' worth of Venezuela's oil sitting in ships off its coast, and the rapid debilitation of its state oil company under President Nicolás Maduro.
