Citgo assets may be at risk in arbitration

AP via Houston Chronicle ^ | June 30, 2007 | KRISTEN HAYS and JOHN OTIS

[corkoman]

I say we “nationalize” these Citgo assets. See how Hugo like sit.

[corkoman]

oops - likes it. but the other works too

[Mercat]

OK, all you lawyer bashers. You have to admit that this is pretty creative and of course it’s the evil lawyers of the evil oil companies who are behind it.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I've been saying this would happen for the past year. Hugo can't pack up his refineries and move them to VZ.
I sincerely hope he keeps running his mouth.

[Carl LaFong]

BTW, Citgo stations in this area are changing over to Circle Ks— keep in mind that it’s still Hugo’s operation.

[P-40]

the company said it expects to write off $4.5 billion, or its entire interest in three Orinoco projects, in its second-quarter results.

Ouch!

[AmericaUnited]

the evil lawyers of the evil oil companies

I am so disappointed in BIG EVIL OIL and have lost all respect or them. They should have popped this little weasal a long time ago for trying to steal from them. Sigh...

[Paleo Conservative]

The Citgo subsidiary of Venezuela's national oil company has five refineries in the U.S. experts say could be targeted for seizure if a stalemate prompts one or both U.S. oil majors to seek recompense through international arbitration.

That's the first thing I thought about when Hugo started talking about confiscating ConocoPhillips' and ExxonMobil's assets in Venezuela. The downside is that the refineries are specially designed to refine sour crude from Venezuela.

[Beckwith]

Poor Joe Kennedy — how will he live and pay the bills for the woman he put in a wheelchair?

[bert]

Exxon should buy El Salvador, then go to Russia and buy a navy and then some planes. Exxon should then proceed to destroy Venezula by making war. After winning the war, Exxon should keep Venezuela and give El Salvador back to tie original government..

[SAJ]

V heavy sour isn't at all likely to stop flowing our way, no matter Hugito's ranting. Turns out that US and Caribbean-based refineries constitute about 90% of all the refineries capable of processing Hugito's sludge.

Also, don't worry about heavy-sour-capable refiners having any problem running better grades; it's addition by subtraction. The plant can be easily adjusted to run the sweetest, lightest grades in the world.

It's conversions in the other direction -- rebuilding refineries that run lighter, sweeter grades to handle heavy sour crap like V's -- that is an expensive and lengthy process.

[ovrtaxt]

Rock Hugo’s world! Oh man I hope this happens.

[eyedigress]

I love it! City gas goes full circle.

[eyedigress]

Would it be a major-undertaking to convert it away from the Heavy Oil?

[penowa]

"and then you have to worry about whether you ever have to do business in that country again."

How many times has this happened to the same cos. and other American cos. in Venezuela? This isn't the first time and likely will not be the last time. It's mainly the history of S.A.

[Old Professer]

Right, you don’t need much pepper on ice cream.

[penowa]

"The downside is that the refineries are specially designed to refine sour crude from Venezuela."

True. It makes them worth less than they would be, but if getting a permit to build a new refinery is next to impossible, the next best thing is to purchase or have awarded to you an existing one and invest in switching it to refine another type of oil.

[penowa]

Chinese are busy like little bees and have been building refineries to refine VZ’s “sludge.” They knew this move was coming too, and have been building storage to hold the stuff in order to not cost their buddy Hugo anything when the change came.

[PAR35]

“The Citgo subsidiary of Venezuela’s national oil company has five refineries in the U.S.”

Which they are in the process of selling...