By Douglas Bolivar, Caracas, Venezuela
Western countries have imposed sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. The sanctions regime has resulted in a surge of oil prices. As a major oil exporter, Russia is reported to achieve even higher earnings from its oil exports in consequence. Now, the United States and its Western allies have started discussing price caps on international oil trade.
We spoke on the future of the oil price with Ángel Rodríguez, a member of the National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and President of the parliament’s Commission on Energy and Oil.
We hope that policies will be applied that will avoid rising the oil prices more. But as log as the sanctions against Russia continue, the price for oil and its derivate will essentially continue to increase.
In consequence, the pressure on Russian oil production and export will continue. This will have severe effects, as we are already observing.
What is your expectation for the price?
The oil price may increase to up to 200 or 300 dollars. At the level of already 150 dollars, it will create a global crisis, extending especially from countries with lower incomes.
Can Venezuela’s production solve this crisis?
Venezuela can help mitigate the crisis, but we cannot solve it completely, because it is a combination of different factors. A number of countries are involved in the crisis. The OPEC can play an important role.
In spite of that, we observe that these sanctions will continue, even if the conflict in Ukraine stops, because the West seeks to prolong the general confrontation.
There is also a lot of discussion about alternative energies. How do you evaluate Venezuela’s potential here?
Although we are an oil producing country, we produce the majority of our electricity by hydropower. And we have the human resources and the natural conditions to develop further alternative energy.
We can produce hydrogen, which can be transported via the existing gas pipelines. We can further make use of solar energy. We can further develop the industrial base of these industries and thus advance an alternative energy matrix. This is without doubt important facing the global pollution and climate change.
In that context, I believe the executive should strongly advance and support the progress the process of further developing alternative energies.