Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro publicly offered oil deals to Donald Trump as his administration continues to ramp up pressure on the Caracas regime.
"If they want Venezuelan oil, Venezuela is ready for U.S. investments like with Chevron, whenever they want, wherever they want, and however they want," Maduro told friendly journalist Ignacio Ramonet during an interview.
Maduro had already offered favorable oil deals to the U.S. in the past months to ease Washington's pressure, but Trump rejected them all, according to different reports.
In the meantime, Venezuela's oil output in the Orinoco Belt, its richest region and which accounts for almost two-thirds of the total production, has plummeted since the U.S. began enforcing a blockade of sanctioned tankers in December, according to another report.
Citing internal data at state-run oil company PDVSA, Bloomberg detailed that production in the region dropped 25% from two weeks prior. The company has begun shutting some wells because it's running out of storage unit as it continues to be unable to load oil in tankers. This represents a major blow to the Maduro regime, as more than 95% of the country's revenue comes from oil sales.
Reuters reported in late December that the White House ordered military forces to focus on enforcing a "quarantine" of tankers off the Venezuelan coast for the next two months.
A White House official told the outlet that while "military options still exist, the focus is to first use economic pressure by enforcing sanctions to reach the outcome the White House is looking."
"The efforts so far have put tremendous pressure on (authoritarian President Nicolas) Maduro, and the belief is that by late January, Venezuela will be facing an economic calamity unless it agrees to make significant concessions to the U.S.," the official added.
Elsewhere in the interview, Maduro directly avoided addressing the U.S. strike in the country, telling a friendly journalist "perhaps we'll discuss it in a few days."
Ignacio Ramonet had asked Maduro about the incident, saying his government "has not confirmed nor denied that information. Maduro refused to answer, adding that what he could say was that "the national defense system has guaranteed territorial integrity, as well as peace in the country. "Our people are safe and at peace," he added.
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