PING – Hugo is at it again!
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HugoPing Archive
Posted on 01/13/2007 8:13:26 PM PST by bruinbirdman
CARACAS, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Venezuela is "almost ready" to nationalize the foreign-run projects that develop the tarry, heavy crude of the Orinoco Belt into fuel, President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday.
Foreign companies running the projects include Chevron (CVX.N), Conoco Phillips (COP.N), Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), Statoil, (STL.OL) and BP (BP.L).
"We are now almost ready for the nationalization," Chavez said in an address to parliament.
Chavez's increased rhetoric on the Orinoco projects comes as he deepens his socialist revolution, nationalizing utilities and stripping the central bank of its autonomy.
Venezuela has long been pushing to take a 51-percent stake in the Orinoco oil projects, which produce about 600,000 barrels per day, but faces a battle in wresting control away from the foreign firms.
A senior Venezuelan oil official last month acknowledged that the Caribbean state could face hundreds of millions of dollars in fines if it takes over the projects, because of financing agreements with international banks.
I sense that with falling oil prices Hugo knows the jig is up. With inflation running rampant in Venzuela Hugo is running out of money to buy popularity.
Hugo will not be happy until he has destroyed and impoverished the nation that was Venezuela.
If, like Castro, that takes 40-50 years, that's O.K. by him...
Interesting. Thanks for posting.
Chavez is a typical ignorant communist. He is about to kill the goose that lays the golden egg by nationalizing (destroying) the oil industry. In ten years Venezuela will not be able to produce enough petroleum for it's own needs much less for export.
What I'm afraid of more than anything else is that Chavez becomes a dictator, keeps the military paid off with oil profits, and Venezuela turns into the next cuba. He's already working to destroy the countries constitution and socializing everything. I fear the worst for that country.
VENEZUELA
GDP - per capita (PPP): $6,400 (2005 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 4%
industry: 41.9%
services: 54.1% (2005 est.)
Labor force: 12.31 million (2005 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 13%
industry: 23%
services: 64% (1997 est.)
yitbos
What the heck, blame America!
Yup. Way to encourage investment for future development. Just like Russia, except that starvation isn't nearly as acceptable a form of political pressure in Latin america as it is in the russias.
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