text: I think US sanctions and Harvey are all parts of the answer as to why oil production dropped so drastically last December in Venezuela, on top of all their other ongoing problems. With the US being their biggest market, those factors had to have an effect.
  Concerning Venezuelan crude oil imports to the US: They peaked in 1998 at 1.6 million barrels per day and have been declining ever since. By July 2017, before the hurricanes, they were down to 677,000 barrels per day. They dropped further in Aug, Sep, and Oct (to 510,000). So most of the plunge in imports happened in the prior two decades. The hurricanes added to the decline only at the tail-end.
  There is plenty of demand for Venezuelan oil around the world. It’s not like Venezuela cannot sell the oil it produces. It’s not like Venezuela sits on this massive storage tank of oil for which there is suddenly no demand because of the sanctions or whatever. The problem is that Venezuela cannot produce more oil. As the article said, PRODUCTION has plunged, not demand. That’s a well-known Venezuelan problem dating back many, many years.
  One doesn’t need crypto currencies for deals in which equipment is exchanged for oil, future oil, or oil rights.