BATON ROUGE - Venezuela holds the largest oil reserves in the world, but years of political turmoil and economic crisis have left its oil industry in disarray. 

The recent capture of Nicolás Maduro has added a new layer of uncertainty about the country’s ability to restore production and attract foreign investment.

“In 2014 we had the oil price crash. That was around the same time that Maduro came in, and that's when the oil industry really, really got hit very, very hard in Venezuela,” said LSU’s Greg Upton, executive director of the Center for Energy Studies.

After the government nationalized the oil industry and Maduro consolidated power, production plummeted. Political instability and declining investment have crippled Venezuela’s ability to produce oil, experts say.

“Whenever you have a big crash like that, not only with the price but also with the political instability, it's been a really, really hard time for Venezuela,” Upton added.

Even with the world’s largest reserves, much of Venezuela’s oil remains untapped. “They actually have the largest oil reserves of any country in the entire world, but they're just way underutilized because of these geopolitical events,” Upton said.

Major companies remain reluctant to invest while uncertainty continues. “Companies are not going to come in and invest if there's political uncertainty,” Upton noted.

So what does this mean for Louisiana? Experts say the state’s energy producers and consumers are unlikely to feel major effects, at least for now.

“Not only the energy producers here in Louisiana, but also consumers that are purchasing gasoline and other products that are derived from oil. It's really probably not going to be a significant effect again,” Upton said.

Louisiana producers could see price movement if Venezuela returns more supply to the global market, but any change is expected to be gradual.

“When more supply is added, without the demand going with it, then the price of the commodity is going to come down,” said Mike Moncla, president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association.

“It’s not going to be something where you just flip a light switch on and there's going to be more oil coming into America or Louisiana for that matter,” Moncla added.

Experts say Venezuela’s oil future now depends on what happens politically after Maduro’s capture, and whether companies feel confident enough to invest in rebuilding the country’s oil industry.