As the country’s economy continues to tank, Venezuela’s national oil company PDVSA is approaching the deadline for a $1.1bn note issue due in November, and there’s a pretty good chance they’re not going to be able to make the payment. With a dire need for more cash and credit and soaring inflation rates at an all-time high of 886 percent, Venezuela is in desperate need of allies with deep pockets. In their search for funding Venezuela has turned to Russian oil giant Rosneft. In 2016 PDVSA signed onto a loan from Rosneft offering 49.9 percent of its shares in Citgo, a U.S.-based, Venezuelan-owned refining company, as collateral. Thanks to this deal, Rosneft has a lien on all of PDVSA’s Citgo refineries in the US, meaning that if and when Venezuela defaults on the bond, Russia will seize their assets and own a number of refineries on U.S. soil. This […]