Chavez cancer squeezes Venezuela funding

Chavez health: Uncertainty around illness of Venezuela leader cooling flow of money from foreign nations

Venezuela’s $100 billion oil industry is seeing the first drop in funding in five years from some of its closest partners, as concern mounts that President Hugo Chavez’s battle with cancer is creating a political vacuum, according to a report.

The government, which for a decade has disclosed credit lines from China when they are signed, has announced none since April, according to a report released 13 January by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) cited by Bloomberg.

Russian and Indian companies are withholding planned investments in Venezuelan oilfields, according to eight oil company executives and consultants who declined to be identified.

Delays in funding threaten the ability of South America's largest oil producer to reverse declining output.

"Given the precarious political situation in Venezuela, these countries are not increasing their lending," Margaret…

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