China’s oil-for-loans relationship with Venezuela faces uncertainty after Maduro ouster

China’s long-standing oil-for-loans arrangement with Venezuela is at a turning point after the ouster of Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, raising questions about the fate of billions Beijing lent to Caracas. The partnership began in the early 2000s, when China sought energy and Venezuela under Hugo Chávez sought new economic partners; the two countries struck a deal that yielded more than $100 billion in financing promises, and Chinese money financed railways, power plants and cash transfers.

Mr. Chávez said in 2010 the arrangement would deliver “all the oil that China needs for its growth and consolidation as a power.” Over the years Venezuela has worked to pay down what it owes; AidData estimates the country currently owes around $10 billion and has calculated China’s total lending to Venezuela since 2000 at $106 billion.

China has stopped making new loans and is now less reliant on Venezuela and on oil generally, the reporting said. The relationship has been complicated by U.S. pressure: the United States imposed increasingly restrictive sanctions, and, the reporting notes, U.S. forces captured Mr.

Maduro on Saturday. President Trump said the United States was ready to take over Venezuela’s oil industry, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted that U.S. forces would prevent tankers on a sanctions list from entering and leaving until the Venezuelan government opened its state-controlled industry to foreign investments.

Key Topics

Business, China, Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, U.s. Sanctions, Chinese Oil Companies