Still struggling to increase both its oil production and international oil sales amidst the pressures of what remains a punishing regime of United States sanctions, Venezuela’s oil and gas sector continues to pursue a path of seeking every opportunity to monetize the drastically reduced amounts of oil that it recovers these days. In January, the country’s oil exports dropped to their lowest level in seven months, according to sector reports even as the Venezuelan state-run oil company PDVSA reportedly continues to manage its sales contracts in a manner that ensures that oil sales benefit, as far as possible, from immediate cash payments.