Editing Venezuela (section)

=== Petroleum and other resources ===
{{See also|History of the Venezuelan oil industry|Energy policy of Venezuela}}
[[File:Venezuela's exports of crude oil, January 2018-December 2019.png|thumb|Venezuela's exports of crude oil from January 2018 to December 2019<ref name=EIA-VEN>{{Cite web|date=30 November 2020|title=Venezuela – U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)|url=https://www.eia.gov/international/analysis/country/VEN|access-date=25 February 2022|website=www.eia.gov|archive-date=20 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220233751/https://www.eia.gov/international/analysis/country/VEN|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

Venezuela has the largest oil reserves, and the eighth largest natural gas reserves in the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eia.gov/country/country_energy_data.cfm?fips=VE |title=Venezuela Energy Profile |access-date=15 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101215105626/http://eia.gov/country/country_energy_data.cfm?fips=VE |archive-date=15 December 2010}}, [[Energy Information Administration]]. Last Update: 30 June 2010.</ref> Compared to the preceding year another 40.4% in crude oil reserves were proven in 2010, allowing Venezuela to surpass Saudi Arabia as the country with the largest reserves of this type.<ref>[http://www.marketwatch.com/story/venezuela-oil-reserves-topped-saudis-in-2010opec-2011-07-18 Venezuela oil reserves topped Saudis in 2010:OPEC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012091240/http://www.marketwatch.com/story/venezuela-oil-reserves-topped-saudis-in-2010opec-2011-07-18 |date=12 October 2017}}. Market Watch. 18 July 2011</ref> The country's main petroleum deposits are located around and beneath Lake Maracaibo, the Gulf of Venezuela (both in [[Zulia State|Zulia]]), and in the Orinoco River basin ([[Orinoco#Eastern Venezuelan basin|eastern Venezuela]]), where the country's largest reserve is located. Besides the largest conventional oil reserves and the second-largest natural gas reserves in the Western Hemisphere,<ref name="bbc">{{cite news | publisher = BBC |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4692534.stm |title = Venezuela: Energy overview |date = 16 February 2006 | access-date = 10 July 2007 |archive-date = 12 October 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171012121804/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4692534.stm |url-status = live}}</ref> Venezuela has non-conventional oil deposits ([[Heavy crude oil|extra-heavy crude oil]], [[bitumen]] and [[tar sands]]) approximately equal to the world's reserves of conventional oil.<ref name="wec">{{cite web | publisher = World Energy Council |url = http://www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis/publications/default/tech_papers/17th_congress/3_1_04.asp |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070402100135/http://www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis/publications/default/tech_papers/17th_congress/3_1_04.asp |archive-date = 2 April 2007 |author = Bauquis, Pierre-René |title = What the future for extra heavy oil and bitumen: the Orinoco case |date = 16 February 2006|access-date = 10 July 2007}}</ref> The [[electricity sector in Venezuela]] is one of the few to rely primarily on [[hydropower]], and includes the Guri Dam, one of the largest in the world.

In the first half of the 20th century, U.S. oil companies were heavily involved in Venezuela, initially interested only in purchasing concessions.{{sfn|Yergin|1991|pp=233–236, 432}} In 1943 a new government introduced a 50/50 split in profits between the government and the oil industry. In 1960, with a newly installed democratic government, Hydrocarbons Minister Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso led the creation of OPEC, the consortium of oil-producing countries aiming to support the price of oil.{{sfn|Yergin|1991|pp=510–513}}

[[File:Oil Reserves Updated.png|upright=1.35|thumb|A map of world [[oil reserves]] according to OPEC, 2013. Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves.]]
In 1973, Venezuela voted to nationalize its oil industry outright, effective 1 January 1976, with [[Petróleos de Venezuela]] (PDVSA) taking over and presiding over a number of holding companies; in subsequent years, Venezuela built a vast refining and marketing system in the U.S. and Europe.{{sfn|Yergin|1991|p=767}} In the 1990s PDVSA became more independent from the government and presided over an ''apertura'' (opening) in which it invited in foreign investment. Under Hugo Chávez a 2001 law placed limits on foreign investment. PDVSA played a key role in the December 2002 – February 2003 national strike. As a result of the strike, around 40% of the company's workforce (around 18,000 workers) were dismissed.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.scielo.org.ve/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1012-25082004000200006&lng=es&nrm=iso|title=Venezuela 2001–2004: actores y estrategias|author=López Maya, Margarita|journal=Cuadernos del Cendes|year=2004|volume=21|issue=56|pages=109–132|issn=1012-2508|access-date=3 October 2010|archive-date=17 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061117023037/http://www.scielo.org.ve/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext|url-status=live}}</ref>