ENERGY

Venezuelan Oil Investments to Be Cut Sharply: Venezuela will slash oil investments this year by more than $1 billion because of lower-than-expected oil prices, the newspaper El Nacional reported. The amount represents 20% of the $5 billion that Petroleos de Venezuela planned to invest this year in an unprecedented effort to boost the nation’s oil production capacity and industrialization. The newspaper quoted Gustavo Roosen, the new president of Petroleos de Venezuela, as saying the cut was essential to curb a fiscal deficit of as much as $2 billion that the nation is confronting this year as a result of weak oil prices.