Posted on 10/07/2020 7:56:14 PM PDT by BeauBo
For the first time in a century, there are no rigs searching for oil in Venezuela.
Wells that once tapped the worlds largest crude reserves are abandoned or left to flare toxic gases that cast an orange glow over depressed oil towns.
Refineries that once processed oil for export are rusting hulks, leaking crude that blackens shorelines and coats the water in an oily sheen.
Fuel shortages have brought the country to a standstill. At gas stations, lines go on for miles.
Venezuelas colossal oil sector, which shaped the country and the international energy market for a century, has come to a near halt, with production reduced to a trickle by years of gross mismanagement and American sanctions. The collapse is leaving behind a destroyed economy and a devastated environment, and, many analysts say, bringing to an end the era of Venezuela as an energy powerhouse...
Soon after he was elected president in 1998, Mr. Chávez commandeered the countrys respected state oil company for his radical development program. He fired nearly 20,000 oil professionals, nationalized foreign-owned oil assets and allowed allies to plunder the oil revenues...
Sanctions forced the last American oil companies in the country to stop drilling. They may leave the country entirely in December, if the Trump administration ends their exemptions from sanctions...
More than five million Venezuelans, or one in six residents, have fled the country since 2015, creating one of the worlds greatest refugee crises, according to the United Nations. The country now has the highest poverty rate in Latin America, overtaking Haiti this year
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
overtaking Haiti this year".....and it didn't take long at all.
And figure this photo...during a power outage A gas flare lights the street!
Crude seeping from abandoned underwater wells and pipelines coats the crabs that former oil workers haul from the lake with blackened hands........When it rains, oil that has oozed into the sewage system comes up through manholes and drains, coursing with rainwater through the streets, smearing houses and filling the town with its gaseous stench.
There are no jobs, no gasoline, but the oil is spilling everywhere, said Francisco Barrios, a baker.
Maduros retreat from oil has left the shrinking Venezuelan economy comparable to that of the ‘Democratic Republic of Congo!
(from the article)
Thanks....good read there!
Now if we can just ship all the socialists down there.
Haiti was once the wealthiest French colony but the French Revolution’s uprising on the island did to Haiti what Chavez did to Venezuela. Killing/driving out all the White people did not help either.
It would take G7 resources 5 Trillion and 15 years to fix Venezuela.
But yes, it would be worth it for SA and the world.
Don Jr. and Eric would be a good start.
.....while Maduro hands out a roll of toilet paper saying..."Make it last"....
Venezuela, Once an Oil Giant, Reaches the End of an Era
We can just here the applause in the news room of the nyt
(sigh) United Fruit used to handle these situations for us.
Another triumph of socialism.
—
and a preview of the USA under the Harris Administration
Dont forget that Socialists also get rid of decadent western luxuries that are exclusively for the rich.......like food and toilet paper.....
Haiti was a wealthy tourist area in the 20th century; it fell apart when they tossed their dictators.
The sanctions forced the last American oil companies in the country to stop drilling. They may leave the country entirely in December, if the Trump administration ends their exemptions from sanctions.
the transition has allowed Mr. Maduro to keep the loyalty of the military and weather the punishing American sanctions, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/world/americas/venezuela-oil-economy-maduro.html?smid=tw-share
Meanwhile the main concern is that of oil pollution (note that the majority of the latter WW is from natural leakage).
The Democrats' wet dream for America.
Roland the Thompson Gunner made his name there.
That was before he lost his head.
——left to flare toxic gases-——
That phrase discounts the credibility of the whole article.
It took four people to produce that trash
Wonder how many remember the Biafran war of the 1970s.
Remember Biafra Babies?
L
...and Jello Biafra, formerly of the group Dead Kennedys
Double and triple ouch! when I was in college at LSU I had a guy from Venezuela in one of my nuclear science classes. Genius intellect and a damned nice guy. Majoring (of course) in petroleum engineering. Offspring of Jews who got out of Germany ahead of Hitler. I hope he and his kin had the foresight to get out in time.
Not really. Venezuela oil deposits have the unfortunate side effect of also producing lots of hydrogen sulfide in the natural gas associated with the oil, which really IS horribly toxic. Not to mention having your whole country smell like rotten eggs. Flaring it off is by far the safest and easiest way to make it "less bad"...the sulfur dioxide formed is still toxic, but far less so.
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