Venezuelan oil output dropped 13 percent in 2017, falling to a 28-year low, official figures released by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Thursday. The Latin American country produced an average of 2.072 million barrels per day last year, compared to 2.373 million bpd in the year before, Reuters reports. The 300,000-bpd drop is the highest recorded amongst the OPEC nations, which agreed to collectively cut 1.2 million barrels per day of production. Unlike Saudi Arabia or its allied Gulf nations, Venezuela’s production plummet was not voluntary. Caracas’ capital constraints make it difficult for the country to obtain the parts necessary to maintain its prized oilfields. Lower figures from the latter half of 2017—after new U.S. sanctions kicked in and buyers started expressing their dissatisfaction with Venezuelan crude quality—likely dragged the annual production average down. Oil production in Venezuela reportedly had jumped to nearly 1.9 million […]