Wildly offtopic, but not all oil is the same. The oil in Venezuela is tar sands[1] so is expensive to extract. In fact the marginal cost of an additional barrel

Wildly offtopic, but not all oil is the same. The oil in Venezuela is tar sands[1] so is expensive to extract. In fact the marginal cost of an additional barrel in Venezuela ($20) is 3x that of UAE ($7), and that's not considering the other issues involved[2]. It is then heavy oil which means it has more bituminous, long hydrocarbon chains with more sulphur so it produces a cheaper grade of product and requires more processing. Then there is the fact that their oil company PdVSA has been under US sanctions which can't help much[3]. [1] https://www.gem.wiki/Venezuela_Tar_Sands https://www.gem.wiki/Venezuela_Tar_Sands [2] https://knoema.com/infographics/vyronoe/cost-of-oil-production-by-country https://knoema.com/infographics/vyronoe/cost-of-oil-producti... [3] https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/126/13808.pdf https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/126/13808.pdf