Venezuela’s Oil Rebound Shows Why the Petrodollar Is a Logistics System

Venezuela’s oil is moving again. That does not mean Venezuela’s oil industry has been rebuilt. It means something narrower, more technical, and more revealing: part of the machinery required to make Venezuelan barrels tradable has been switched back on. That distinction matters for oil markets. Venezuela’s oil exports rose 14% in April to 1.23 million barrels per day, the country’s highest monthly export level since late 2018, according to Reuters. The increase followed a political reset after N...