New York (CNN Business)US sanctions on Venezuela’s national oil company have accelerated the unprecedented collapse of its oil output and set off a domino effect in the global energy market.
The sanctions, which were announced on January 28 in a bid to speed up Nicolas Maduro’s exit, have sent US Gulf Coast refineries scrambling to find alternate sources for the heavy crude they once relied on from Venezuela.
And Venezuela, which as of last fall was the No. 4 crude importer to the United States behind only Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico, has been forced to find new customers and new ways to dilute its very heavy crude to ready it for export.
