Progressive Politics

People who say "it's the oil" need to know Venezuela under the current sanctions exports about 1MM barrels per day to the very American refineries in Louisiana at lower price than market. Why kill the goose that already lays these golden eggs?

That doesn't necessarily mean that big oil isn't very interested in controlling their oil production. In our current stage of capitalism value is created more efficiently by withholding something rather than producing something.

Having control over production means you have more control over pricing. While they can probably moderate some amount of control via the refinery's production, they still probably feel an obligation to buy a set amount of Venezuelas exports just so they don't go shopping for other import partners.