Venezuelans face gasoline shortages
Gasoline shortages are popping up outside of Caracas after last month’s sanctions created a de facto ban on Venezuelan fuel purchases from the U.S.
Lines are forming in states west of the capital where drivers now traverse vast stretches on the road without passing by an open service station and are forced to park behind hour-long lines to refuel their tanks. Afraid that shortages are here to stay, drivers are also filling up plastic drums with fuel to store at home.
While Venezuela is still receiving imports from Spain and the Caribbean, odds are the fuel won’t be enough to meet local demand. Recent U.S. sanctions seeking to starve President Nicolas Maduro of oil money means employees of Petroleos de Venezuela SA are scrambling to find sellers of refined products such as naphtha that are critical to keeping its ailing industry working.
In January, before President Donald Trump slapped these new measures on Venezuela, almost two-thirds of the country’s gasoline imports were from the U.S.
Sitting atop even more oil than Saudi Arabia, Venezuela has long sold the world’s cheapest gasoline, costing less than penny to fill up a tank. But years of mismanagement, coupled with the 2014 crash in commodity prices, threw the socialist nation into an economic tailspin marked by rampant food shortages, hyperinflation and a breakdown in public services.