Venezuela wastes more gas via flaring and leaks than the UK produces in an average year
The ambitions make economic sense — there's robust demand from European nations looking to replace Russian supplies, and Venezuela wastes more gas via flaring and leaks than the UK produces in an average year — some $1 billion of the fuel annually. Exports could provide precious dollars for an economy that's shrunk by two-thirds since 2013 amid a currency collapse.
The moves also would be an incredibly difficult undertaking in a country where major energy companies have seen billions of dollars of investments expropriated without compensation, where the government's anti-democratic stances have resulted in strict sanctions and where the infrastructure needs extensive upgrades to begin functioning again. Just to get gas exports off the ground would require some $500 million in investment, according to IPD Latin America, an energy research group.
This could be a fortuitous time for Venezuela to boost its gas supplies. Latin American demand will increase 1.4% a year over the next decade, while regional output will drop off at an annual rate of 5.6%, according to forecasts from Wood Mackenzie. Countries like Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia and Bolivia are expected to be particularly hungry for supply. Across the Atlantic, European governments suffering from a lack of Russian gas are focusing on filling storage sites to 90% before next winter.
See the whole article on Bloomberg here:
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