Venezuela’s Oil Minister Pedro Tellechea has announced that the government will introduce an appointment system for citizens to book subsidized fuel rations for their vehicles. The new system will allow citizens to schedule appointments to receive their allocated fuel supplies, which will be distributed through an application.
Venezuela, which holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, has struggled with fuel shortages for over a decade due to socialist mismanagement. The country’s state oil company, PDVSA, and its infrastructure have been severely degraded, leading to widespread difficulties in accessing fuel.
To address the shortage, the Maduro regime has implemented various fuel rationing schemes, including the use of “ration chips” installed on vehicles and raffles to distribute refuel quotas. The government has also used a Chinese social-credit-score-inspired platform to assign monthly subsidized fuel rations to citizens.
The regime controls all fuel distribution in Venezuela through PDVSA, the state-owned oil and natural gas company, and has sold fuel in two ways since 2020. The “subsidized” fuel is sold at a heavily discounted rate of around $0.02 per liter, while the “international rate” fuel is sold at a flat price equivalent to $0.50 per liter.
Tellechea did not clarify whether the new appointment app will replace the current fuel subsidy distribution system or operate alongside it. The government claims that it can guarantee sufficient oil supplies to meet national demand, despite producing significantly less oil than it once did.
