Venezuela Needs Its Oil Workers Back

To rebuild the economy, the opposition must revive production at PDVSA.

Reversing Venezuela’s plummeting oil production will be a top priority should opposition leader Juan Guaidó succeed in his quest to dislodge the regime of Nicolas Maduro. Guaidó has already appointed a shadow board of directors for state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA. The hard part will be assembling a corps of experienced industry personnel to help revitalize the company if Guaidó assumes power.

Thousands of PDVSA professional staff left more than a decade ago after being targeted in a political purge. Roughnecks and truck drivers are the latest to join the exodus, fleeing a country plagued by the world’s highest inflation and debilitating food shortages. “The loss of technically competent people is one of the most limiting factors,” says Luis Giusti, who resigned as chief executive officer of PDVSA the day before Hugo Chávez took office in 1999 and is an adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.