Venezuela, Once an Oil Giant, Reaches the End of an Era

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/world/americas/venezuela-oil-economy-maduro.html

Source: By Sheyla Urdaneta, Anatoly Kurmanaev and Isayen Herrera, The New York Times. 

Excerpt: CABIMAS, Venezuela — For the first time in a century, there are no rigs searching for oil in Venezuela.Wells that once tapped the world’s largest crude reserves are abandoned or left to flare toxic gases that cast an orange glow over depressed oil towns. Refineries that once processed oil for export are rusting hulks, leaking crude that blackens shorelines and coats the water in an oily sheen. Venezuela’s colossal oil sector, which shaped the country and the international energy market for a century, has come to a near halt, with production reduced to a trickle by years of gross mismanagement and American sanctions. The collapse is leaving behind a destroyed economy and a devastated environment, and, many analysts say, bringing to an end the era of Venezuela as an energy powerhouse. The decline has diminished beyond recognition a country that just a decade ago rivaled the United States for regional influence. It is also unraveling a national culture defined by oil, a source of cash that once seemed endless; it financed monumental public works and pervasive graft, generous scholarships and flashy shopping trips to Miami....