CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA has secured a $2 billion credit line from several energy service companies, including U.S.-based Halliburton and Schlumberger.
The deal allows the foreign companies to increase contract work for PDVSA as the heavily indebted Venezuelan company struggles to increase production from the country’s reserves, which are the world’s largest. Switzerland’s Weatherford International is also taking part.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is seeking to open the country’s oil industry to greater foreign investment amid mounting food shortages and galloping 50 percent inflation. More than 95 percent of Venezuela’s export earnings come from oil shipments.
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