Refineries (at least those built by American companies) are designed with specific crude slates in mind, and the decisions about which oil to run are shaped by engineering limits, market prices, and strategic risk. Refining Venezuelan oil requires considering all three.

Venezuela sits on 303 billion barrels of oil—more than Saudi Arabia. So why does it pump less than 1% of global supply? The answer involves nationalizations, sanctions and crude that's harder to extract than most.

Do U.S. oil companies want to jump into Venezuela to produce the heavy, sour oil? Here are specifics of oil production down there, and the issues.

Trump’s actions in Venezuela yesterday sent shockwaves around the world, yet his intentions are not as clear as he makes them out to be.

Oil has long been the backbone of Venezuela’s economy. The state-owned oil company PDVSA was once regarded as one of the most capable national oil firms globally, producing over 3 million barrels per day at its peak.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest short term energy outlook (STEO), which was released earlier this month, the U.S. will produce 13.45 million barrels of crude oil, including lease condensate, per day in the second ...