Crisis-stricken Venezuela cuts the working week to save energy
The Venezuelan government has shortened the work week for the country's public employees in an effort to reduce energy consumption amid a weather-related supply crisis , Bloomberg reported , citing a government document that talks about "a climate event" affecting hydroelectric power supply.
“We will have six weeks of energy savings,” said Diosdado Cabello, Minister of the Interior, quoted by the publication. “We must take precautions to avoid taking more drastic measures in the future.” According to the Bloomberg report, the warm climate has reduced the amount of water available in dams in the Andean part of the country.
Venezuela has been struggling to secure energy supplies for years , due to US sanctions that have significantly reduced oil revenues and poor management of infrastructure.
Despite US sanctions, Venezuela saw a more than 10% increase in oil imports last year, reaching the highest since 2019, at 772,000 barrels per day. Of that, about 200,000 bpd went to U.S. Gulf Coast refiners, despite sanctions, after the Biden administration granted Chevron a waiver to resume operations in the South American nation.
PDSVA oil deposit
President Trump, however, refused to extend the sanctions waiver to Chevron, opting instead to double the sanctions, this time in the form of tariffs.
Earlier this week, Trump announced that all countries that purchase oil and gas from Venezuela will have to pay additional 25% tariffs on trade with the United States. The tariff slap is part of Trump's push to curb illegal immigration, including from Venezuela, which, he said, has sent "tens of thousands" of people to the United States with a "very violent nature."
China is by far the largest buyer of Venezuelan oil, with about 500,000 barrels per day, both directly and indirectly, according to Reuters , and accounts for the majority of total exports, according to the latest data. India also imports Venezuelan crude – in increasing volumes – as do Italy, Spain and Cuba . Now they will have to stop buying Venezuelan oil.
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The article Venezuela in crisis cuts the working week to save energy comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/il-venezuela-in-crisi-taglia-la-settimana-lavorativa-per-risparmiare-energia/ on Tue, 25 Mar 2025 15:12:42 +0000.