According to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has one of the world's largest proven crude oil reserves with 302,809 million barrels (OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin 2018). Using average daily crude oil production for 2017 (see Fig. 1a), it would take over 390 years for Venezuela to run out of crude oil. This means that Venezuela will remain as a major crude oil producing country for a long time. Looking at the way Venezuela has managed its vast oil