Venezuela

Venezuela will finance solar projects with “Petro” cryptocurrency

March 14, 2018

The Venezuelan government intends to finance solar energy projects using its recently launched state cryptocurrency, “Petro”.  Petro is a cryptocurrency developed by the government of Venezuela, and backed by its oil and mineral reserves, which raised $735 million in the first day of a pre-sale in February. Facing the current economic crisis, the government hopes […]

Economists debate how hard Venezuelan economic storm will hit Cuba

August 2, 2016

Cuban reliance on Venezuelan crude oil is now being challenged, as the Latin American neighbor drops oil production below 2 million barrels per day (bpd). Cuba produces 50,000 bpd itself and has stockpiled a 60-day supply on the island; however, the Caribbean island will still have to cut fuel consumption by 28 percent in the […]

Venezuela’s energy woes spread to Cuba

July 10, 2016

Long-time trade partners, Venezuela and Cuba, are struggling to maintain a 15-year relationship that provided oil assistance to Cuba. While Cuba improves relations with the United States, it is also experiencing the fallout from Venezuela’s economic decline. Venezuela’s state-run oil firm PDVSA has slashed exports to Cuba this year; the Caribbean island has received 53,500 […]

Caribbean countries warned to look for alternative sources of oil post-PetroCaribe

December 27, 2015

The recent election of President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela may disrupt the delicate balance of the PetroCaribe energy agreement. Maduro’s coalition announced that it is going to take the agreement under critical review. Tomas Guanipa, a deputy of the National Assembly said that Venezuela “cannot continue selling oil in 20 years when we are in need of […]

Oil Prices and the Future of Petrocaribe

September 30, 2015

An article in the Huffington Post discusses the relationship between nineteen Caribbean and Central American countries and Venezuela. Petrocaribe is a financing mechanism in which participating countries purchase oil from Venezuela at a discounted price and repay the difference over time with a low interest rate attached over a period of 17 – 25 years. To […]