Free Republic

• PDVSA is shipping oil to China (Cerro Negro). • PDVSA is allegedly selling to China at a price equal to crude deliveries to US refineries based on WTI minus premium. • PDVSA's agreements with Petrochina predate Chavez. • Petrochina refineries in north China, are set to refine light crude (Venezuelan crude is heavy).

<p>May 17 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush allowed an increase in oil refinery mergers to go unchecked since he took office and may have contributed to the highest gasoline prices in 20 years as the November election approaches.</p> <p>The Bush administration approved 33 takeovers totaling $19.5 billion, on top of 21 deals worth $7.3 billion under President Bill Clinton, Bloomberg data shows. Reduced supplies were already pushing up gas prices in Clinton's term, according to a Federal Trade Commission study conducted after pump prices rose to more than $2 a gallon in Milwaukee and Chicago in 2000.</p>

Higher prices show that our insatiable demand for gasoline is catching up with our willingness to produce it. The price of gasoline rose over the winter, but that was just the beginning of an inevitable upward trend. Summer will give us an even better feel for things to come. Complaints by motorists and accusations by politicians will not avoid the unavoidable: Most Americans simply cannot have all the gasoline they want much longer. We already burn more of this precious but cheap commodity than U.S. refineries can make. For the past two years, imports climbing toward 1 million barrels per...