Venezuela’s oil exports sink to 17-yr low, choked by US sanctions

Venezuela’s oil exports plummeted in May to their lowest level since 2003 as U.S. sanctions choked exports and two Mexican firms that had acted as intermediaries for Venezuelan crude sales stopped receiving oil, Refinitiv Eikon data and internal shipping documents from state-run energy company PDVSA showed.

Washington has imposed sanctions on Venezuela to starve President Nicolas Maduro of oil revenues – the OPEC nation’s main source of foreign income – and break his grip on power.

The measures have reduced exports and deepened the country’s economic crisis but Maduro has held on, which U.S. officials say privately is a source of frustration for President Donald Trump.