Sanctions imposed on the Nicolas Maduro regime by the Trump Administration have dramatically reduced export tanker traffic to the strife-ridden nation. Venezuela, home to some of the world's most-prolific crude reserves, had been the exporter of about 2 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) as recently as 2015. The escalating international tensions have placed significant upward pressure on crude prices. So, the "fear premium" is making a comeback and being baked back into crude prices after the previous 18 months or so of relative absence. The premium is fairly modest thus far, but how high it will rise and how long it might last is impossible to project.

Source: Forbes May 16, 2019 14:56 UTC