Comiéndose el capital

Hace unos meses leí que la empresa estatal de petróleo de Venezuela invierte menos de la mitad de lo que debería invertir por año para mantener los niveles actuales de producción.

Hoy llego a través de Instapundit a este artículo que sostiene que algo similar estaría pasando en Irán:

Iran's oil exports are plummeting at 10pc a year on lack of investment and could be exhausted within a decade, depriving the world economy of its second-biggest source of crude supplies.

A report by the US National Academy of Sciences said rickety infrastructure dating back to the era of the Shah had crippled output, while local fuel use was rising at 6pc a year.

"Their domestic demand is growing at the highest rate of any country in the world," said Prof Roger Stern, an Iran expert at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.

"They need to invest $2.5bn (£1.28bn) a year just to stand still and they're not doing it because it's politically easier to spend the money on social welfare and the army than to wait four to six years for a return on investment," he said.

"They've been running down the industry like this for 20 years."

Prof Stern said Teheran faces impending disaster since it relies on oil revenues for 70pc of its budget.