Posted on 05/02/2007 4:15:43 PM PDT by Kitten Festival
Energy: Venezuela's Hugo Chavez put on a big show for May Day, expropriating the last big foreign oil company project assets. But neither oil supplies nor the oil firms will go under. Venezuela may be a different story.
Oh, it was a big show all right for the communist dictator, almost like a military conquest. Chavez sent soldiers charging in to "re-take" four large foreign-oil installations, planting the Venezuelan flag. And this being May Day, red-shirted mobs chimed in with Chavista slogans, making the whole scene movie-perfect. Only the pitchforks were missing.
In reality, it was just a $30 billion rip-off of U.S. and foreign assets that likely will fall apart in Venezuela's unskilled hands. The upside is that it will spur oil companies and consumers to find new sources of energy — a natural process for markets in the face of scarce supply. In the end, Venezuela may be rendered irrelevant.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...
Our CIA needs to give him a dirt nap.....
I’m afraid a CIA as feared and skilled as in a Clancy novel is just fiction - an illusion we’ve all had.
Like Che, he needs to fall on 100 bullets.
wow... 4 IBD editorials and counting... keep it up
It will eventually get serious enough to get our attention.
Our CIA, as presently constituted, would be loathe to send Chavez a bill collector for the assets he has just brazenly stolen.
Most foreign energy firms doing business in Venezuela have agreed to sell their oil interests to the government of President Hugo Chavez. But Houston-based ConocoPhillips is holding out.
TEXT OF STORY
KAI RYSSDAL: The big oil story today, though, is Venezuelan heavy crude. Foreign energy firms have until Tuesday to sell their oil interests to the government of President Hugo Chavez.
Four firms threw in the towel this week. But Houston-based ConocoPhillips is holding out. Which has in turn prompted a warning that Conoco’s fields might just be taken outright. From the Americas Desk at WLRN, Marketplace’s Dan Grech has more.
DAN GRECH: It was like a party where one of the guests of honor didn’t show. While U.S. firms ExxonMobil and Chevron dutifully signed over control to the Venezuelan government, ConocoPhillips skipped out on the signing ceremony.
Analyst Fadel Gheit is with Oppenheimer & Co. He says Conoco has major stakes in two of the four oil projects being nationalized.
FADEL GHEIT: They are the largest interest in Venezuela, but the smallest of the three. Therefore, pound for pound, they have more at stake than Chevron or Exxon.
With more to lose, Conoco may be negotiating more carefully. Still, Conoco CEO James Mulva said in a conference call that the firm would ultimately turn over its keys to PDVSA, Venezuela’s state firm.
JAMES MULVA: PDVSA becomes the operator first of May. And we’re working with them to make sure that’s done in a very safe and efficient way. That transition’s going well and we don’t see any issues or problems in accomplishing that.
The problems may come after the May 1 transition of control. Oil companies still need to be reimbursed for the takeover. Venezuela says it’ll pay book value for the projects, which is $10 billion less than the current market value.
Edward Glab is a former Exxon executive. He says Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez risks completely alienating the energy firms, whose help he needs to get oil out of the ground.
EDWARD GLAB: When you’ve dug yourself into a deep hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging. Yet it seems that every action Chavez takes, he just digs himself a little deeper.
Oil companies have until June 26 to negotiate the terms of the takeover.
Dan Grech — Marketplace.
Listen to this story
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/04/26/PM200704263.html
I read this week that the Chinese and Iran have swooped in with major oil and NG exploration projects and to help run the existing oil facilities Chavez just seized.
China plans to build a massive new refinery on its coast line that can refine the high sulfer content crude that comes from Venuzeula. The chinese are starting a project to build a fleet of large supertankers to move the oil.
We all know that within a few years, Chavez will seize total political power and declare himself president for life.
“$30 billion rip-off of U.S. and foreign assets that likely will fall apart in Venezuela’s unskilled hands.”
I thought the same thing when we turned the Canal over to Panama, but they’ve apparently done an excellent job of keeping their hands out of the O&M till and running it. Having lived in both countries, I’d’ve given Venezuela more credit for being able to keep the spigots open. Of course, that was pre-Chavez. The ones that bother me most are the Chinese - they’ve swooped into both countries and I’m not confident we’re doing nearly enough to counter their influence.
Colonel, USAFR
The only national leader the CIA has attempted to take out in recent years, is President Bush.
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