Lights

THE Sun are giving away 3,000 FREE tickets to the fantastic Land of Lights trail at Gulliver’s World

Full price tickets to this festive event cost £23 per person at the gate – but if you’re a Sun Club member, you can bag two tickets for free.

Join Sun Club now — don’t miss out.

Simply sign up to Sun Club for £1.99 per month, and head to the Offers Hub to unlock your free tickets.

The fantastic lights trail is available at Gulliver’s World Milton Keynes, Warrington and Rotherham.

Helen Wright visited Land of Lights with her two children, a festive night out which would have costed £69 for the family.

Here’s what it’s like to take the family along to the Gulliver’s World Land of Lights trail.

Read more on Gulliver’s World

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“THE nights are drawing in and there’s a nip in the air – the perfect time to light up your life with some festive fun.

“And Gulliver’s World is the perfect place to embrace the winter season with its fantastic Land of Lights Experience at its parks in Milton Keynes, Warrington and Rotherham.

“Fairytale characters welcomed us to Gulliver’s World in Milton Keynes, as I’m quickly struggling to catch up with my kids, Finn (nine) and Isobel (seven) as they burst through the gates.

“We’ve visited Gulliver’s World before. It’s the perfect day out for younger children, with gentle rollercoasters, log flumes and classic fairground fun, as well as thrill rides for adrenaline seekers like Dragon Siege.

“But this time, we’re here to enjoy the separately ticketed Land of Lights.

“This is a joyful trail through brilliantly illuminated lands, complete with giant light installations, larger-than-life lanterns and cute photo opportunities.

Join Sun Club now — don’t miss out.

“We start in Dinosaur Land, where the park’s life-size Jurassic monsters are joined by some extra residents, including a luminous T-Rex and Triceratops.

“Alongside the brightly coloured beasts are some fun facts and a few entertaining special effects.

“Following the path through a fairy garden and animal farm, complete with a glowing tractor, we wander open-mouthed through the luminescent Under the Sea exhibit.

“Halfway through, we stop to toast marshmallows on a bonfire. There is an extra cost of £5, but my kids love it and it’s a great way to warm up.

“There’s also a little food court for a break along the way if you’re feeling peckish.

“Bolstered by our marshmallow feast, we arrive at the Christmas-themed kingdom, complete with appearances from Santa and his elves.

“I’m just as captivated as the children, skipping along the sparkly path of lights.

“For families who want to make a weekend of it, you can stay on resort in themed cabins, including a Dinosaur Lab and a Wild West Saloon.

“The next morning, we head into the theme park for some thrills.

“The Land of Lights may have been far more relaxing, but Isobel is beaming at finally being tall enough to ride upside down on Dragon Siege.

“Stepping off, our cheeks have a different kind of glow.

“It’s such a great way to keep everyone entertained. A little weekend with something for everyone is a winter win”.

The Sun has teamed up with Gulliver’s World to give Sun Club members an exclusive chance to experience the magical Land of Lights for FREE.

We are giving away 3,000 FREE tickets across all three Gulliver’s locations, and Sun Club members can claim two tickets each.

Land of Lights is running until Saturday, January 30 in Warrington and Rotherham, and Saturday, February 27 in Milton Keynes.

Your free tickets can be used on any date, excluding Thursday, December 31.

Entrance to Land of Lights costs £23 per adult and £23 per child on the gate, so signing up to Sun Club means big savings.

To get your tickets, simply join Sun Club and book from today before tickets sell out.

Free entry applies to Land of Lights only. Entrance to Gulliver’s Theme Park and overnight accommodation are priced separately.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS: 

18+ UK only. Digital subscription required. Online access required. Offer ends at 23:59pm on 06/12/26. 3,000 tickets available across 3 locations. Non-transferable & non refundable.  T&Cs apply, see club.thesun.co.uk/sun-club.  New customer offer: £2.99 per month for 3 months, £6.99 thereafter unless you cancel at least 7 days before your next billing date. Full T&Cs apply, visit thesun.co.uk/terms-and-conditions.

FANCY zooming across the streets of London taking in the Christmas lights like Kristen Scott Thomas? We’ve got just the ticket (literally).

But don’t worry, you won’t have to sit in one of the tuk tuks – instead, you’ll be getting the best view from the top of an open top bus.

Save 20% on The Original Tour’s Christmas Lights London Bus Tour + Thames sightseeing cruise included. Use code: FESTIVELONDON

You’ll cruise underneath the magical displays, avoiding the shopping crowds and get incredible views of London along the way.

What’s even better news is that The Original Tour has cut the price of its Christmas Lights Tour tickets by 20 per cent.

If you click here and enter the code FESTIVELONDON at checkout, adult tickets drop from £36 down to just £28.80.

Children’s tickets will drop from £22 to £17.60, and infants under two travel free.

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The tour kicks off on Coventry Street, where you’ll climb aboard one of the Christmas-themed double-decker buses and hunker down in a seat on the upper deck.

The bus will head past illuminated London spots while a tour guide sprinkles joy telling festive facts and jokes along the way.

From the top deck, you’ll be able to see the golden angels of Regent Street and the beautiful canopy across Oxford Street.

While Oxford Street has been recently pedestrianised, you’ll still be able to go down a section of it by Marble Arch.

For anyone who loves window shopping, gaze upon the shopfronts of stores in Bond Street, and take in the buzz of Piccadilly Circus from the comfort of the top deck.

Get your cameras at the ready for when you cruise past Trafalgar Square as it’s home to a huge Christmas tree, gifted to the UK from Norway.

Whether you’re after a family outing, a date night under the twinkling lights or a solo day to yourself, the tour is suitable for everyone.

It lasts up to 90 minutes and will run from November 14 to January 3.

There are lots of times to choose from too with the first bus departing at 4:30pm and the last at 9pm.

Make sure to wrap up warm, and why not pick up a hot chocolate to stay cosy onboard?

There’s more…

If you buy a Christmas Tour ticket, it includes a daytime River Thames cruise too.

So you can have a full sightseeing day in London, one from the road, and another from the water.

Cruises start at four points in London; Westminster Pier, Tower Pier, Greenwich Pier, or the London Eye Pier, so there’s flexibility in how you plan the day.

Along the Thames River cruise you’ll lots of London landmarks including Big Ben and the London Eye.

If you still haven’t had your city fix, the ticket allows for SIX free self-guided walking tours.

Whether you want to walk in the footsteps of Harry Potter or learn the spooky secrets of Jack the Ripper, you can listen to them all on The Original Tour’s partner app at your leisure.

You’ll be able to explore the city for under £30 – and at Christmas, every saving helps.

The FESTIVELONDON code is valid to use right now through to January 3, 2027, so now’s the time to lock in your dates.

Save 20% on The Original Tour’s Christmas Lights London Bus Tour + Thames sightseeing cruise included. Use code: FESTIVELONDON

FESTIVELONDON expires on 03/01/2027 11:59pm (BST).

Terms and Conditions:
The offer is available from 12 October 2026 until 3 January 2027, with tours running daily from 14 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, excluding Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The discount applies to adult and child tickets only, excludes family tickets and cannot be combined with other offers. Blackout dates apply and are from 21 December 2026 to 30 December 2026. Blackout dates are dates during which promotional offers cannot be used. More information can be found on the website at theoriginaltour.com.

*Prices correct at the time of publication.

LIGHT up your winter with this exclusive Sun Club offer. Save up to £46 with two FREE tickets to Land of Lights, the spectacular family-friendly lantern festival taking place at Gulliver’s World this festive season. 

With 3,000 tickets available across three Gulliver’s World locations, you can choose from Milton Keynes, Warrington and Rotherham. 

Join Sun Club now — don’t miss out.

Plus, you can also grab an extra two tickets at half price. Just look for the exclusive discount code when you claim your free tickets. 

Land of Lights is returning brighter than ever for 2026, with giant lantern displays, glowing tunnels and immersive themed worlds creating a magical after-dark experience for all ages.

Guests can explore illuminated trails, with brand-new lanterns, light displays and effects added across the event this year.

Each location offers its own unique route and atmosphere, with magical photo opportunities, marshmallow toasting, food and drink stops and plenty to discover along the way.

Whether you are visiting Land of Lights for the first time or making a return trip, there is plenty to enjoy. 

So wrap up warm and make a night of it with friends and family as you take in the lights and stop for a few treats along the way.

Land of Lights is running until Saturday, January 30 in Warrington and Rotherham, and Saturday, February 27 in Milton Keynes. Your free tickets can be used on any date excluding Thursday, December 31.

With tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis, you will need to be quick to avoid missing out, so bag yours before they are gone.

Join Sun Club to book

To claim your tickets, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Join thesun.co.uk/club for just £1.99 a month or £12 for the first year, then £19.99 thereafter.

Step 2: Go to the Offers Hub and select the Gulliver’s Land of Lights page. You do not need to collect Sun Savers codes.

Step 3: Booking opens at 11am on Saturday, November 7.

18+ UK only. Digital subscription required. Online access required. Offer ends at 23:59pm on 06/12/26. 3,000 tickets available across 3 locations. Non-transferable & non refundable.  T&Cs apply , see club.thesun.co.uk/sun-club.  New customer offer: £2.99 per month for 3 months, £6.99 thereafter unless you cancel at least 7 days before your next billing date. Full T&Cs apply, visit thesun.co.uk/terms-and-conditions.

Law firm Eversheds Sutherland, which carried out the independent investigation, said there were “high levels of stress and concern” within NESO’s Electricity National Control Centre over the “current state of the energy industry generally” and the longer-term ability to keep it balanced.

It said this was, according to evidence gathered from staff, due to the fact that traditional methods of electricity generation such as gas were “easier to manage”, compared to renewables, which were “less flexible”, and were making the job of ensuring supply meets demand “more difficult”.

The probe also found there to be a “significant disconnect” between those working in the control room and NESO’s leadership.

Multiple witnesses expressed the view that those in senior leadership and executive positions “do not fully appreciate or understand either the way in which the control room works, or the reality of the pressures faced by those on the frontline who are responsible for ‘keeping the lights on'”, Eversheds’ report said.

The investigation was prompted after Conservative shadow energy secretary Clare Coutinho said in July she had been contacted by a whistle-blower alleging that NESO had been “hiding information about how securely our grid is being run”.

One of the claims was that control room staff were encouraged to conceal or alter records to avoid leaving a paper trail linked to efforts to stabilise the grid during a period of extreme heat in June.

This was done in order for NESO, which is owned by the government, to avoid public scrutiny or reputational damage, according to the allegation.

Eversheds said its investigation did not substantiate any of the allegations from whistle-blowers but did identify “cultural, governance and control issues” that it said were “significant findings in their own right”.

Fintan Slye, chief executive of NESO, said the investigation identified “areas where we could improve how colleagues can raise concerns and how we respond to them”.

“I want all colleagues at NESO to feel heard. We will act on the recommendations, working closely with our trade unions, and be open with colleagues about the progress we make,” he added.

NOTHING says Christmas quite like streets filled with twinkling lights – especially the spectacular displays put up in London.

This year you can score 20% off the magical Christmas Lights London Bus tour AND even get a free Thames cruise.

Save 20% on The Original Tour’s Christmas Lights London Bus Tour + claim a FREE Thames sightseeing cruise. Use code: FESTIVELONDON

The tour usually costs £36 for adults and £22 for kids, but you’ll get tickets for £28.80 and £17.60, respectively, using our discount code.

The tour starts on Coventry Street, where you’ll climb aboard one of London’s famous double-decker buses and get cosy on your guaranteed upper deck seat.

The Christmas-themed bus will then take you through London‘s best-decorated spots, alongside festive facts and jokes from a live tour guide.

Along the route you’ll tick off famous spots such as Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus and more.

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Make sure to snap some pictures of the world-famous, glittering Trafalgar Square Christmas tree, gifted to the UK all the way from Norway.

And in a brand new route for 2026, you’ll now also cruise down Regent Street, known for its giant glimmering angels with golden wings spread high overhead.

Oxford Street sees a canopy of sparkling hanging stars, while posh Bond Street goes all out with fancy displays illuminating the high-end shops and hotels.

Picadilly Circus acts like the grand junction of all these fantastic displays, with its giant screens running festive takeovers and the glowing spillover of surrounding streets in the distance.

Whether you’re visiting London with the kids, ticking off the sights with friends or wanting a romantic date beneath the stars, the tour is suitable for all ages and occasions.

The best way to make the most of the tour? Grab a hot chocolate before boarding, wrap up in your cosiest hat and scarf, and make sure to pose for pictures as you cruise right under the impressive displays.

The tour lasts up to 90 minutes, running from November 14 and January 3,.

You have lots of options too with the first bus departing at 4:30pm and the last at 9pm.

Save 20% on The Original Tour’s Christmas Lights London Bus Tour + claim a FREE Thames sightseeing cruise. Use code: FESTIVELONDON

Tots under two travel free, and there’s space on every bus to pop your pram and buggy.

That’s not all, however. If you purchase the Christmas Lights London Bus Tour, you also get a daytime Thames River cruise thrown in completely for free.

That means you can experience a full-on sightseeing day in London, taking in the sights from the water in the daylight on the river cruise, before taking in the city by night on your bus tour.

On the Thames River cruise you’ll tick off top landmarks like Big Ben, the London Eye and more, so by the end of your big day in London you’ll have taken in the very best the city has to offer.

Cruises start from Westminster Pier, Tower Pier, Greenwich Pier, or the London Eye Pier, giving you flexibility in how you plan your day.

As well as a free river cruise, you’ll also get SIX free self-guided walking tours thrown in.

So when you’re not aboard the boat or open-top bus, you’ll have plenty of guidance on which sights are best to see by foot.

The audio tours include the Wizard’s Walk (a Harry Potter-themed tour) as well as a spooky Jack the Ripper tour, and you can listen to them on The Original Tour’s partner app.

With three ways to explore the city bundled into one, it’s hard to find a better value way to experience London at Christmas.

Save 20% on The Original Tour’s Christmas Lights London Bus Tour + claim a FREE Thames sightseeing cruise. Use code: FESTIVELONDON

Terms and Conditions:
Code FESTIVELONDON expires on January 3, 2027 at 11:59pm BST. The offer is available from 12 October 2026 until 3 January 2027, with tours running daily from 14 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, excluding Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The discount applies to adult and child tickets only, excludes family tickets and cannot be combined with other offers. Blackout dates apply and are from 21 December 2026 to 30 December 2026. Blackout dates are dates in which promotional offers cannot be used. Full T&Cs can be found on The Original Tour’s website at  theoriginaltour.com

Prices correct at the time of publication.

The “biggest oil deal in history” was announced almost simultaneously by acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez and U.S. President Donald Trump on Aug. 28. However, many Venezuelans didn’t find out until the next day because massive blackouts — up to 16 hours a day and partly caused by increased oil production — kept them from scrolling the news.

At the United Nations a month later, Trump bragged that he had taken Venezuela’s “spoils,” while Rodríguez said the deal with the U.S. would contribute to resolving the energy needs of “the hemisphere and the international economy.” Venezuelans then asked: What about our energy needs and economy?

The oil deal, the legal and operational details of which are still unknown, covers the exploitation of 17 fields and 65 billion barrels, which equates to 20% of Venezuela’s total reserves — the world’s largest, at an estimated 303 billion barrels. U.S. companies will invest $100 billion in exploiting the fields, a figure which — according to Venezuelan government projections — would translate into more than $209 billion in tax revenue for Venezuela over the years of the contract.

The announcement sparked questions and criticism from different sectors of the country, with concerns about the lack of information and the impact on sovereignty. In response, Rodríguez tried to explain the deal’s benefits in a nationally televised address, noting, “How much does Venezuela receive? Based on a barrel price of $65 … revenue would reach $209.3 billion for the state. In concrete terms, this means that for every barrel produced and sold, about $19 goes to [Venezuela].”

Oil drives the Venezuelan economy. Currently, it accounts for 71% of the nation’s total exports, but now much of that revenue goes to the U.S. In the first quarter of this year, out of a total of $7.76 billion in exports, $5.5 billion came from oil activity. As the acting president’s address went on, many of us only had more doubts.

A few hours later, Venezuelan economist Francisco Rodríguez summed up some of the nation’s concerns: “Do the projected tax revenues … correspond to nominal amounts, inflation-adjusted amounts, or net present values? A nominal amount of $19 per barrel in 2051, the project’s final year, would correspond to a real value of about $9 today.”

“The $209 billion equates, over 25 years, to about $8.4 billion annually, a relatively low amount compared with the tax revenue Venezuela has collected in the past at similar production levels. The amount would be even lower if it corresponds to a nominal total.” According to Central Bank of Venezuela data, Venezuela took in a record $82.8 billion in 2008 alone from oil sales.

Contradictions

Trump later contradicted Delcy Rodríguez’s 25-year timeline, saying the deal would involve a century of concessions. Francisco Rodríguez, the economist, noted that extracting 65 billion barrels in 25 years would be impossible, due to lack of infrastructure. 

“What rights does the U.S. acquire over these resources after 25 years? Can a future Venezuelan government decide to withdraw from this deal if it doesn’t like it?” he asked.

And why wouldn’t they like it? Trump said on Truth Social that Venezuela will begin supplying the U.S. strategic oil reserve immediately through “a gift.” Nobody knows what that means exactly, but since the military intervention on Jan. 3, the revenue generated by the sale of Venezuelan oil — we don’t know how much that is either — is already “in the custody” of the U.S. Treasury.

“It doesn’t look like Venezuela will benefit broadly in the long term. It’s like being on floor minus-18 and going up to minus-10,” Venezuelan researcher Blas Regnault, who specializes in energy policy and oil governance, told Truthdig from The Hague, Netherlands.

“There could be an indirect reactivation of the economy because of the indirect jobs that may emerge in some regions. But let’s also keep in mind that the country has been 100% blockaded, suffocated, so any door that opens will bring some benefits, but this is not the benefit one would expect for a sovereign country,” he said. 

“That’s the other problem: There’s no sovereignty of any kind over the resource itself, over what’s being sold. On top of that, there’s a lot of opacity — you’re analyzing blind.”

This “opacity” is also illegal. Articles 150 and Article 187, Paragraph 9, of Venezuela’s Constitution state that contracts of national public interest with foreign states or entities require approval from the National Assembly. However, although the Assembly endorsed the announcement of the deal on Sept. 1, its president, Jorge Rodríguez, said it had not yet been “submitted” to the legislature. Then, a month later he said that “according to some legal experts, it doesn’t need to be reviewed.”

It’s clear that Venezuela is once again, as it was for much of the 20th century, a kind of “U.S. oil province,” Regnault says, “Recovering sovereignty won’t be easy because Venezuela is strategic to U.S. interests.”

“On top of that, the other side of the coin is that China has become a key player [globally]. Today the Chinese do what Saudi Arabia used to do when it cut production and pushed prices up. With this Strait of Hormuz crisis, after the naval blockade of Iran, it was discovered that China had more reserves than previously thought, and that kept the crisis from being bigger and the price from reaching $150.”

That is precisely why U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio celebrated the fact that several of the oil fields included in the deal were once “dominated by China and Russia and Iran.” At the same time, the U.S. government has decided to maintain sanctions against Venezuela, thereby preventing any new economic players. In fact, the U.S. Treasury Department, through its Office of Foreign Assets Control, updated its oil licensing policy for Venezuela in late September through Orders 46E, 48D and 49B, which benefit U.S. businesses but maintain an absolute ban on Russia, Iran, Cuba, North Korea and China.

“The [Venezuelan] government has already amended the Hydrocarbons Law to try to create more favorable conditions for investors in the oil and gas sector, but … the [U.S.’] problem isn’t domestic supply. They need to monopolize the world’s energy reserves, markets and prices in order to prevail in the rest of their economic activities,” oil expert David Paravisini explains to Truthdig from Caracas, referring to a legal reform that was passed on Jan. 29 and created the possibility of technical and operational management and direct commercialization by private companies. He believes that for Venezuela, the deal is a diplomatic “quest” to survive. 

Trump is also maintaining some of his domestic support by presenting Venezuela as the great economic and geopolitical victory of his administration, especially after the war against Iran — which was supposed to last “only a couple of weeks” — reached the six-month mark and cost more than $37.5 billion through the end of July. In fact, Trump has claimed again and again that this oil deal will lower fuel costs inside the U.S. and come “at no cost whatsoever to the American taxpayer.””

Does this mean the $100 billion investment will come from private companies? The deal also aims to exploit eight greenfield blocks, areas where crude has been identified but which have not yet been developed. But what happens if that investment does not materialize? Since Jan. 9, Trump has been trying, without success, to persuade U.S. oil companies to invest in Venezuela.

Corruption is fine if the U.S. profits

So far, the only company we’ve heard about is North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), which was selected on Aug. 31 by the Trump administration to lead oil extraction projects in the 17 Venezuelan fields.

According to the White House, the Department of Defense will hold a 35% equity stake in NABEP and, in addition, the Barbados-registered company will grant Washington the right to buy 20% of the oil it produces at the cost of production.

NABEP, which has only operated in Venezuela for two years, was awarded the deal without a prior bidding process. The company belongs to Venezuelan businessperson Alejandro Betancourt, who was under investigation by federal prosecutors in Florida until January 2026 for allegedly laundering more than $1 billion from the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The case was then closed suddenly under the orders of U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche (now the attorney general), after a decade-long investigation. He is still the subject of open investigations in Switzerland and Spain.

Betancourt comes from a middle-class family but studied at the private religious school Instituto Cumbres de Caracas, where he befriended Javier Alvarado Pardi, son of Javier Alvarado Ochoa, who later became president of Electricidad de Caracas, deputy energy minister and a PDVSA executive.

Back in 2009, Alvarado Ochoa presented Betancourt and his engineering firm, Derwick Associates, as the best solution to Venezuela’s power generation crisis. Betancourt went on to receive 12 government contracts, awarded without competitive bidding, worth a total of $5 billion, which were either never completed or were implemented improperly, according to Transparency Venezuela and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (which is funded by the U.S. government, among other countries).

So why Betancourt? Rubio said that he is no longer under investigation by the U.S., has supported the Venezuelan opposition and he has demonstrated his ability to produce oil. In that vein, NABEP claims it produces 200,000 barrels of crude a day, just behind Chevron.

However, Victor Hugo Majano, a Venezuelan investigative journalist and director of the well-known outlet La Tabla, told Truthdig that Betancourt overbilled the Venezuelan state by billions of dollars for power plants that never worked. He cited information from Thor Halvorssen, an anti-Chavista activist and cousin of Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López. With that money, Betancourt bought a Dassault Falcon private jet and the historic Alamíin Castle in Spain.

Halvorssen also says Betancourt, who is also linked to 50 companies spread across 15 countries, paid former New York prosecutor Adam S. Kaufmann to halt prosecutions; former Wall Street Journal reporters to discredit whistleblowers; and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to bring the U.S. Justice Department over to his side.

“Despite this, the U.S. still doesn’t attack Venezuelan corruption. They want to protect the dollar and the U.S. financial system. They are only worried about securing capital flow, money that is not controlled by the state, the [Venezuelan] government,” Majano said.

More oil for the U.S., less electricity for Venezuela

Meanwhile, Venezuelans are paying the price for both Betancourt’s alleged corruption and the oil deal. So far this year, oil production has increased by 29.9%, going from 924,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January to an average of 1.2 million bpd. The increase has been driven by the need to deliver oil to U.S. companies, and it has directly worsened the nation’s electricity crisis.

Authorities acknowledge this; Venezuela’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, said in May the country is seeing higher electricity demand due to the growth in oil production, which “is a very serious problem.” The Ministry of Electrical Energy also noted that demand has reached 15,625 megawatts (MW), “the highest energy consumption figure in the last eight years, an increase of 3.6% compared with the peak reported in 2025.”

However, this statement omits that Venezuela actually has a nominal installed capacity of approximately 35,000 MW, double the country’s peak demand, but stable real generation barely reaches 11,000 MW. This shortfall is a result of both U.S. sanctions and domestic corruption, which together have led to disinvestment, lack of maintenance, fuel shortages (plants designed to run on natural gas have been forced to use low-quality diesel) and transmission problems.

Where does oil production come in? Víctor Poleo, an electrical engineer and former vice minister of Energy and Mines from 1999 to 2001, told Truthdig that “the national oil industry uses up about 1,500 MW, of which about 250 MW is self-generated, but another 1,250 MW is taken from the national interconnected system. This draw is 24/7 and must be continuous in order to carry out crude extraction, transport, pumps and compressors and refining.”

Poleo, who bases his analysis on studies by fellow electrical engineer Nelson Hernández, says light, medium and heavy crudes are estimated to require between 9 kilowatt-hours and 15 kilowatt-hours per barrel to produce. For extra-heavy Orinoco crudes, the estimate is 24 kilowatt-hours per barrel. “As a result, citizens lose their quality of life so that oil can be produced.”

This deterioration is particularly notable in Zulia state, Venezuela’s so-called oil cradle, where production has risen to between 350,000 and 370,000 barrels per day of light and medium crude — far below the historic peak of 1.5 million bpd in 2004, but a figure that, for its residents, has translated into daily blackouts exceeding 12 hours.

From the Isla Dorada residential complex in northern Maracaibo, capital of Zulia, José Javier León tells Truthdig that power failures “have worsened dramatically.” In his area, outages used to last four hours but now exceed seven. 

“In many places there are double rounds, meaning the power goes out in the morning and at night, or at night and then before dawn. All the problems have gotten worse, and we don’t know the real reasons. In the suburb of Cuatricentenario, one of the most working-class areas and where the government had the most electoral support, the cuts are the worst,” he says.

León complains that residents are not alerted when the outages will happen. There is nothing like the electricity rationing schedules of the past, which would at least let them plan better. “In my area, there is no domestic gas, so we have electric stoves. Also, these are apartment buildings, where we have to turn on pumps to get water.” To make matters worse, the temperature in Zulia often reaches 39 degrees Celsius (102 Fahrenheit) because of the humidity.

In the Andes, outages add up to as many as 12 hours a day, and 16 hours in rural or border areas. From La Hechicera, an urban neighborhood in the city of Mérida, Silvana Solano tells Truthdig that the power used to go out for seven to eight hours, once a day, “but for the past two months, it goes out twice a day, the first time for seven hours and the other for around five hours, and we can’t predict the schedule. This also affects phone signals, which keeps us from communicating, making payments, etc.”

Some government institutions, including the Mérida mayor’s office, are open only from 8 a.m. to noon. Solano says she is worried that public schools, which operate until 3 p.m., will also adopt this schedule, in turn affecting parents’ working hours. Throughout September, residents of the towns of Caja Seca (Zulia state) and Nueva Bolivia (Mérida state) blocked the Pan-American Highway to protest the power outages.

To Venezuela’s north, on the famous Margarita Island, Alejandro Pérez tells Truthdig there are areas that have gone seven to eight months without water service. “Here we pay for water trucks, $50 for 10,000 liters of water, sometimes with $60 we get 13,000 liters, but you have to pay in foreign cash or at the parallel rate because the Central Bank of Venezuela exchange rate isn’t accepted here.” The black market or informal exchange rate is worth more, for those with foreign currency, than the official exchange rate.

Unlike other Caribbean islands, Margarita doesn’t have significant natural sources of fresh water. Some 90% of the area’s water comes from the mainland, crossing the sea through underwater pipelines that require gigantic pumping stations.

The contradictory rhetoric and the endless problems we face daily mean that, according to the latest AtlasIntel poll conducted for Bloomberg News, only 10% of Venezuelans believe the country will benefit from the oil pact with the U.S. — data that also aligns with the most recent study by the firm Meganálisis, the same one that after Jan. 3 said 92.2% of Venezuelans loved Trump. Emotions change, social problems persist, and without electricity, no economic improvement will be possible.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Venezuelanalysis editorial staff.

Source: Truthdig