Editor's Note: The following is the second installment of a three-part series assessing the endemic risks of Venezuela's energy sector. Part 1 examined concerns over potential production disruptions. Part 3 will examine the sector's prospects for a turnaround. Oil has driven every aspect of Venezuela's economics and politics since the first commercial well was drilled in the Maracaibo region in 1914. Unrest currently threatens the country's political situation and raises important questions about the future of the oil industry, which has suffered from serious underinvestment for the past decade. Luckily for Venezuela, there is currently no threat of coordinated militant attacks such as those next door in Colombia. The biggest challenge to Venezuela's energy sector derives from slow degradation resulting from years of poor maintenance and a distinct lack of competitiveness in attracting new investment .