Interim Venezuelan president Delcy Rodriguez has passed a new law opening the country’s oil production to privatisation. For the first time in nearly 30 years…
The US eased sanctions at the same time. American firms can now sell, buy, refine, and transport crude. Sanctions on production persist for now. So ends the PDVSA nightmare…
Venezuelan oil is of poor quality and the sector has been decimated to such an extent that it will take a huge amount of investment to get it back on its feet. Expansive new legislation is intended to wrestle control of the sector from the state and allow for independent legal dispute arbitration – so the courts can’t expropriate assets again. Rubio added this week that China will still be able to buy Venezuelan oil – but only at market prices…
Rubio added that he wants opposition leader María Corina Machado to be part of a transition process and run for elections eventually. The long road to liberal democracy…
Shadow national security minister Alicia Kearns told Times Radio she would have put a precondition on a China trip if she were PM:
“I would have put a precondition that I was not going to go if I was prime minister, unless Jimmy Lai was coming home with me. I would also put a precondition in the six months leading up to the visit that I wanted a reduction in hostile acts against our country. But that’s not what we saw. And actually, in contrast, what we saw was clearly the Chinese Communist Party did put a precondition, which was that the new embassy in London had to be signed off. So why is it okay for China to set preconditions and to make very clear red lines about what they require for a visit, but we go without having put any ourselves?”