Except for recent soaring oil prices, there is bad news for President Hugo Chavez from his oil patch.
In 2010, oil production fell to its lowest level since a strike stopped output in 2002 reports PDVSA, the state oil company.
About 2.78 million bpd was extracted in 2010 versus almost 3 million bpd in 2009 even with Venezuela possessing perhaps the largest oil reserves in the world.
Oil sales are 95% of Venezuela's export income.