- Rebuilding the industry would require a decade of work and $80 billion–$100 billion in investments, according to analysts—and that assumes political stability.
Having oil reserves doesn’t mean you can easily produce it for the world’s markets. Most of Venezuela’s crude is extra-heavy oil, closer in consistency to asphalt than gasoline
Venezuela sits on more barrels of oil than Saudi Arabia. So why does it pump less than 1% of the global supply?
www.investopedia.com
So True. Also it's crap oil and costs more to extract. Basically they have to mine it or treat it to get it out of the ground. Like you said the companies have no guarantee the Venezuelan government wouldn't screw then over again.