Posted on 01/05/2026 11:38:37 AM PST by madison10
...Why Trump Is Likely Referring to Chávez’s 2007 Oil Seizures Based on the wording of Trump’s post, particularly his demand that Venezuela “return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us,” the most plausible reference is the 2007 expropriation of U.S. oil assets by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez...
The Legal Case Behind the Rhetoric
ConocoPhillips pursued international arbitration for years and ultimately won multiple awards... Most recently, in January 2025, arbitration rulings were upheld totaling approximately $8.7 billion plus interest. Venezuela has consistently refused to pay...
(Excerpt) Read more at oilprice.com ...
No, the situation is not like China and Taiwan. Add drug shipments from Venezuela (indirectly) to the crimmes
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If suddenly in the next 6 weeks, shipments of global oil plunge by 20% only to be replaced by the newly liberated Venezuelan oil, I wonder if people will put the two things together?
I wonder if people will then realize that the whole point in taking over Venezuela was to accommodate another operation about to go down on the other side of the world without tanking the global economy?
Probably not.
Not that simple VZ oil is high sulfur expensive to refine. Needs a refinery capable of doing it. My impression is those refineries are others common.
I don’t think it will be a 1 to 1 replacement for the missing oil coming out of the Strait of Hormuz.
But I think that if we anticipate it will be going away, having Venezuela’s oil back on the global market will go a long way in smoothing the bumps.
Agree! It would be smart for someone\some company to build such aspecialized refinery in VZ. Save the raw oil a trip!
China has to be pissed. Their oil shipments are now suspect and they will now be defaulted on the $100b loan.
Most of the majors were part of 4 upgrader projects which were sanctioned in 90’s. These were being built or started running around when Chávez came to office. These projects took heavy oil from the field, moved it to the coast, and took some of the sulfur and tar compounds out of the crude. The upgraded crude (still pretty crappy) was then sent to dedicated refineries to process more normally. Only 1 of 4 upgraders runs today, probably at much reduced rates.
An objective was to minimize investment / risk in Vz, because you never know
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