Posted on 07/21/2008 5:26:02 PM PDT by Kaslin
Energy: Big Oil is easy to kick around just ask any Democrat in Congress. But China's threats to Exxon Mobil are in another league. Its bid to use Exxon Mobil as a wedge against its rival Vietnam is a case in point.
The region in question is clearly Vietnam's (see map). Exxon Mobil has been doing its homework on this area ever since the U.S. trade embargo was lifted in 1994. But China claims Vietnam's central and southern offshore coastal waters, where the exploration is occurring, is its territory. Though its claim wouldn't hold up in an international court, China seems to believe Vietnam is a wayward stepchild and, thus, China doesn't need to recognize its sovereignty.
Exxon Mobil, as a result, might have to drop the project, leaving Vietnam with no technology to extract its badly needed coastal oil.
BP bailed out on a similar project a year ago after Chinese threats. The result? Less oil on the market and higher prices.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...
Commies not getting along?
It would be a shame if the “leaders” of Nam and China were dragged into the streets and hung in the name of freedom.
China has already moved into those islands, I think. There was a lot of anti China protest in Vietnam a while ago about China claiming the islands and putting up structures on some of them. Then it turned out that the VN premier had made some sort of deal with China and that is why VN was not resisting. Folks in VN got very upset. It seems to have brought a tightening of speech control for a while. It was hard to believe that VN would give up its own oil source without a fight.
Thanks for the ping, AAC
How far is this oil patch from the Spratly Islands?
Exxon Posts Record $32.36 Billion TAX Payment
istockanalyst.com | July 31, 2008 | Mark J. Perry
Posted on 07/31/2008 11:23:58 PM PDT by bugseye
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2054731/posts
[snip] Although the way CNN reported it is “Exxon posts record $11.68 billion profit.” [end]
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