The LA Times never gets any story right and should never be used as source material. The fact is, Venezuela does NOT “control the largest reserves of crude oil in the world.” That distinction belongs to the USA. You can look it up. With the use of new American-developed well drilling technologies, the USA now has the largest proven reserves of crude oil and natural gas than any other nation on earth. And more coal than anywhere else on earth, as well. The global warming Sierra club lefties at the LA Times will never admit these important facts, though, which undermines any conclusion they may present in their articles. Anyway, Venezuela is just another turd world communist “socialist” cesspool in need of a serious flushing, like so many other OPEC countries; as any sane normal average person who is not a raving leftie lunatic already knows.
Vz does have a large store of crude but retrieving it is another story.