Posted on 05/04/2007 1:27:22 PM PDT by Paul Ross
Venezuela takes private oil fields
InTech, 3 May 2007
BP PLC, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., France’s Total SA, and Norway’s Statoil ASA don’t have as much today as they did yesterday.
The Associated Press reported President Hugo Chávez’s government took over Venezuela’s last privately run oil fields Wednesday.
The event could slow development of the world’s largest-known petroleum deposit.
Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez declared the Orinoco River fields reverted to state control. State television showed cheering oil workers in hard hats raising the flags of Venezuela and the national oil company over a refinery and four drilling fields in the Orinoco River basin.
The companies ceding control included BP PLC, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., France’s Total SA, and Norway’s Statoil ASA.
All but ConocoPhillips signed pacts last week agreeing in principle to state control, and Venezuela has warned it may expropriate that company’s assets if it does not follow suit.
All the oil companies remain locked in a behind-the-scenes struggle with the Chávez government over the financial terms and the conditions under which companies can stay on as minority partners.
The companies have leverage because analysts said Venezuela’s state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, is incapable of transforming the Orinoco’s tar-like crude into marketable oil without the investment and expertise of the foreign companies.
However, companies pumping oil elsewhere in Venezuela, one of the leading suppliers of oil to the U.S., submitted to state-controlled joint ventures last year, because they were reluctant to abandon the profitable operations.
Venezuela’s state-run energy company, known as PDVSA, already owned four Orinoco joint ventures with a range of ownership of 38 percent to 49.9 percent. They are increasing their claim to 60%.
PDVSA is going to reimburse for the increased claimed. The irony is PDVSA has offered future oil as payment. It would be like stealing your farm and offering to pay with the corn you already planted.
Chavez’s oil plans in slippery territory
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/4763470.html
But for those who suggest the oil companies destroy the facilities before turning them over, you should understand what is actually happening. The oil companies are not going to destroy their 2 billion dollars worth of facility to protest the loss of 500 million.
Don’t look for foreign investment in Venezuala. Poof!
One thought commies were gone with the fall of the Berlin wall, but the morons are still around.
The only foreign oil companies allowed in Venezuela are Russian/CIS, Chinese, Iranian, and Cuban oil companies.
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