Key Takeaways Gas prices have been trending lower for years, but the average American still pays more at the pump today than they did before the pandemic. Will the overthrow of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro change that? Don't count on it. Venezuela is home to nearly 20% of the world's known oil reserves, but decades of underinvestment, government corruption, and, beginning in 2017, U.S. sanctions on the country's state-run oil company, have decimated its petroleum industry. The country pumped an avera ...