carib
rerum cognoscere causas
FT
The risk is that over the coming months, as civil tension increases, the oil industry will become a focal point of conflict in Venezuela, taking significant volumes of oil off the market for a considerable time. A combination of events around the world, mostly driven by politics rather than by any fundamental shortage of resources, could then produce a period of price instability. The world oil market could absorb a further fall in exports from Iran. It could cope with the loss of more of Venezuela’s current exports. But it is hard to see how it could cope with the loss of both without a significant impact on prices.
The risk is that over the coming months, as civil tension increases, the oil industry will become a focal point of conflict in Venezuela, taking significant volumes of oil off the market for a considerable time. A combination of events around the world, mostly driven by politics rather than by any fundamental shortage of resources, could then produce a period of price instability. The world oil market could absorb a further fall in exports from Iran. It could cope with the loss of more of Venezuela’s current exports. But it is hard to see how it could cope with the loss of both without a significant impact on prices.