So BP is the latest to recognise officially that Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, something that Hugo Chávez has been merrily pointing out for years.
 
In reality, this has not passed oil companies by – they have been jockeying to get a piece of the action for some time, with the exception of a few (like Exxon Mobil and Conoco Philips) who don't like Chavez's way of doing business.
Only on Wednesday, China National Petroleum Corp's vice-president assured that the company plans to bump up production in Venezuela to 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil by 2017, four times the 200,000 bpd it says it is pumping at the moment.

But despite the OPEC country's vast riches, in the immediate future this may not be enough to save it from the bleak economic outlook that Bank of America Merrill Lynch predicted in a report out on Wednesday:

There may be a bitter fight to win the October presidential elections heating up right now, but whoever comes out on top won't have an enviable situation to tackle.