[TChris]

It's a good thing Mr. Lugar is around to keep our POTUS informed. I'm sure President Bush hadn't thought of this until Mr. Lugar publicly pointed it out.

What a grandstanding putz.

[Obadiah]

Maybe Pat Robertson wasn't so nuts after all.

[rhombus]

Let the drilling commence immediately.

[thegreatbeast]

I would have thought that contingency plans would have been drawn up long ago. If they haven't, then someone hasn't done their job.

[dennisw]

This is part of the reason we suck up to awful Mexico and tolerate illegal immigration. Mexico is second largest oil supplier after Canada

[Obadiah]

We are, of course, being held hostage by our very own environmental wacko policies.

[alloysteel]

Petroleum is a fungible resource. When one source of supply is diverted to another point, then the other sources that had been selling competitively in the former market, simply step up their deliveries, with scarcely a hiccup in supply.

Unless all oil producers acted in concert, it would be impossible to embargo delivery of petroleum to any given customer.

[IamConservative]

Oil being a fungible commodity, short of an outright halt in production, how could Chavez selectively boycott sales to the US?

Greed is at least as powerful and emotion as hate.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Richard Lugar, chairman of the US Senate foreign relations committee, has urged the Bush administration to adopt specific "contingency plans" for a potential disruption to oil supplies from Venezuela.

How did Lugar vote on ANWR??? We should be drilling ANWR like a porn star.

[Foolsgold]

Along with that:from Newsmax

Cuba Drills for Oil 60 Miles Off U.S. Coast

With Congress deadlocked over allowing oil drilling in presently restricted areas of the Gulf of Mexico, communist Cuba is already drilling for oil 60 miles off the coast of Florida. Republicans in Congress have tried repeatedly in the past decade to open up the outer continental shelf to exploration. There are an estimated 45 billion barrels in oil reserves and 232 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in banned drilling areas of the Gulf, and Florida's waters hold the promise of major energy finds.

[boris]

Where will they sell their oil then?...

The world oil market is like a big tank or plenum. Some countries pump it in, others pump it out and pay them money. The basic supply is about constant. So where will Mr. Chavez sell his oil?

--Boris

[The Sons of Liberty]

Sounds like it may be time for a REGIME CHANGE in Venezuela.

[Diddle E. Squat]

At least in the article, Lugar offers NO SOLUTIONS OR SUGGESTIONS, just a demand that President Bush take action.

[mysterio]

Let's prepare, indeed. Let's prepare by getting off of foriegn oil that can be cut off by our enemies. To not do so is absolutely insane.

[RightWhale]

Any of a number of things could disrupt the daily commute to the shopping mall.

[Camel Joe]

Of course two can play the "nationalizing" game. I say if the Murdering Thug, AKA Chavez, pulls that we then nationalize all Citgo refineries and gas stations. Russian oil is also high sulfur and we can then entice "Vlad the Inhaler" to sell more oil to us.

[Darnright]

Whatsamatta, Hugo, are the Americans now boycotting Citgo getting to you?

Pat Robertson ain't so crazy, after all.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The GAO study, commissioned by Mr Lugar, a Republican, estimated that a Venezuelan oil boycott would raise oil prices by $11 (€9, £6) per barrel over a six-month period and reduce US economic output by $23bn.

23 billion? Out of an 11-trillion-dollar economy??? We'll barely blink, and Mr. Chavez's ignorant move will only hurt him and, unfortunately, his people (lost oil revenues) while helping our oil companies (higher price/bbl) and our shift toward biofuels (ethanol, methanol, butanol, etc.). If he shuts Citgo refineries down in the US, we could interpret it as an act of war and seize the refineries and transfer them to American oil companies for them to use. We will be the ones laughing all the way to the bank.