The strike at the state oil producer, PDVSA, means the government has insufficient revenue to service its debts, reckons J.

ECONOMIST: Riding for a fall

Many of the service contracts allow for international arbitration, so PDVSA is likely to face expensive lawsuits.

ECONOMIST: Venezuela's oil industry: Skint | The

By last September the financial situation at Pdvsa had gotten so dire that the company was paying service providers with IOUs.

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