Has Chavez crippled his oil giant?

Venezuela oil giant PDVSA is the spearhead of President Hugo Chavez’s revolution, but his ambitious development projects have weakened the state-owned company, industry experts told AFP.

Oil production in Venezuela, which hosts the OPEC summit this Thursday, is far below its official cartel quota because Petroleos de Venezuela still hasn’t recovered from crucial manpower losses after a 2002 strike, and because it has been used to fund Chavez’s social and political development projects.

iAfrica