Brief history of Venezuelan oil production

1970 - Venezuela's oil production reached an all-time high

1976 - Oil industry was officially nationalized & PDVSA was formed (their state-owned oil company)

1985 - Production begins to grow once again, having earlier reduced by 50% from the peak of 1970

1997 - Venezuela opens up oil industry to foreign investment and develop the heavy oil in the Orinoco Belt

1998 - Venezuela's oil production recovers to 3.5 million

1999 - Hugo Chávez begins serving as president

2003 - Chávez fires 19,000 employees of PDVSA and replaces them with employees loyal to his government

2007 - Oil prices rise, so Chávez government changes agreements with international oil companies, giving PDVSA majority control. ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips had assets (later found illegally) expropropriated

2013 - Nicolás Maduro becomes president