See also “Hugo Chavez: Dictator vs. Investors” by Dudley Pierce Baker, January 18, 2013.
By Cecilia Jamasmie
MINING.com
Oil markets don’t seem to be reacting this morning to the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, with the price of crude increasing only slightly on Wednesday.
Crude barely rose in electronic trading in New York to $91.05 per barrel. That is eight times the price of a barrel when Chavez took office 14 years ago.
However, the possible consequences for the oil market are still unclear, say analysts. The consensus seems to be that the overall impact of Chavez’ death, who passed away Tuesday after a two-year battle with cancer, may not be felt until Venezuela chooses a new President.
The new leader may have different views than his predecessor, who saw the state-owned oil company PDVSA’s production fall 25% from 3 million to 2.4 million barrels per day since 1998. This happened despite the fact that Venezuela holds the largest oil reserves in the world, at more than 500 billion barrels.