Maduro Promises to Recover Oil Decline

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro promised on Saturday to recover 70% of the country’s lost oil production in the first half of 2018.

“I can tell you, the unprecedented injustices led to an important fall of a million barrels of oil,” Maduro said in an interview with state television without giving more specific figures or defining a time period for the output decline, Reuters reported.

“I think that in the first half of this year, we will have recovered 70% of production,” he said.

Venezuela’s oil production dropped by nearly 13% last year, according to figures released by OPEC in January, hitting a 28-year low that suggested a deepening economic crisis and increased chances of a debt default.

Venezuela produced 2.07 million barrels per day in 2017 compared with 2.37 million bpd the previous year, registering a near 300,000-bpd drop.

Maduro has criticized an “economic war” led by the United States as well as corruption in the state oil company PDVSA for shrinking production.