Thread: Chavez bites again!

From AP. Sounds like Bush's favourite South American is sabre rattling again...

The Associated Press: Chavez Threatens US Oil Cutoff
Chavez Threatens US Oil Cutoff

9 hours ago

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez on Sunday threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States if Exxon Mobil Corp. wins court judgments to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.

"If you end up freezing (Venezuelan assets) and it harms us, we're going to harm you," Chavez said. "Do you know how? We aren't going to send oil to the United States. Take note, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger."

^ fuck, that would be great, I bet Bush is having orgasm at this stage as this will send oil above 100 and he will be making a fortune,

Maybe ole Chavez will find some more buyers but if not he'll lose one hell of lot of revenue.

^ China and Europe will be more than happy to make up for it,

Interestingly, if you read further in the article, it was a BRITISH court that froze Venezuala's $12BN, yet he made no threat against Broon & co at all. He must really love Bush!

Originally Posted by Butterfly

China and Europe will be more than happy to make up for it,

Europe possibly but as I understand it China and India would take up to 4 years to develop the refining capability to be able to refine Venezuelan crude due to it's properties.

Originally Posted by bkkandrew

Interestingly, if you read further in the article, it was a BRITISH court that froze Venezuala's $12BN, yet he made no threat against Broon & co at all. He must really love Bush!

Just shows what a cock Chavez is.

Yes and just his mere posturing will send prices up. What is it with this bloke?

He's trying to be the Achmadinawhackjob of Latin America. Regional Hegemony, martial the Latin slaves against their former Gringo masters, put the screws to them. Form alliances with weird nations. Nationalize industries.

Plays to the nationalistic card at home and the resentment card against the Gringos. Don't think it has legs though.

That guy is about the most paranoid prick I have seen since Gorbachev. Coarse they both communists.
I wondered why when we was doing some offshore work down there in the 70s that the USA didn't take over that fucking country, We had to pay taxes there just because we were working in their waters.

And their crude is all heavy sulfur crude as far as I know and is not the best crude anyway, most of the Iraq crude I have seen looks like diesel and burns your eyes when it spills, should take that country over right now as we already there.

Originally Posted by blackgang

That guy is about the most paranoid prick I have seen since Gorbachev. Coarse they both communists. I wondered why when we was doing some offshore work down there in the 70s that the USA didn't take over that fucking country, We had to pay taxes there just because we were working in their waters.

...



The mind boggles.

Not to be on the side of the oil companies, but these lads were robbed by Chavez. Who does he think paid for the infrastructure and owned the leasing rights???

Chavez is a tool and his threats are EMPTY as usual.

OH, Did you work there too ANTy, what were you doing, running errands and red papers for ya hero?

Venezuela's oil is extremely heavy. Refineries that can process such oil are specially built, meaning he can't just sell his oil to anyone, but to only those deep refiners that can extract higher products from such heavy oil. Heavy oil is also less dear, and thus freight costs are a big factor. Transporting heavy Venzeulean crude to China is impractical.

Originally Posted by blackgang

OH, Did you work there too ANTy, what were you doing, running errands and red papers for ya hero?

No blackgang, I didn't and I wasn't. And yet I'm not making untenable and nonsensical comments about the place. Go figure.

Chávez rides on tide of Venezuelan oil, but will it ebb soon? - 01/27/2008 - MiamiHerald.com

Just a sample,, but follow the link..

DRILL RIG SHORTAGE
Meanwhile, PDVSA officials acknowledge that they lack enough of the drill rigs -- there's a worldwide shortage because of a boom in exploration -- needed to find more oil. Luis Vierma, PDVSA's vice president for production, said last July that the company's shortage of rigs represented ``a significant operational emergency.''
The country needed 191 rigs last year to meet its production goals, Vierma told the National Assembly. But Baker Hughes, the Houston-based firm that provides the world's standard count of rigs, said that only 71 rigs were active in Venezuela last month.
''Private companies . . . are not interested in leasing their rigs to Venezuela because since 2003, [Chávez and PDVSA] have consolidated global reputations as untrustworthy partners that routinely violate their contractual obligations,'' said the Caracas-based newsletter VenEconomía.
Another sign of PDVSA's problems: The number of oil wells, 19,583 in 2001, declined to 13,500 in 2005, Mares wrote in his report. More recent numbers are not available publicly.
Oil exports declined even further -- from 2.5 million barrels per day in 2000 to 1.5 million now -- because more of the production is fueling vehicles in Venezuela, said Ramón Espinasa, formerly PDVSA's chief economist.

^Interesting. Perhaps Chavez is simply covering for his own mismanagement and explaning in advance lack of supply to the US...

It's a complicated dynamic.

US firms are putting Venezuela lower down the list for new infrastructure investment because of the business environment there. Yes, there is a degree of blackmail involved, but thats business.

Chavez, who's attempted reforms I have no overall issue with, is getting it horribly wrong.

He is now starting to sound like a loony, railing off at his biggest customer, and one that his nation relies upon, because of a corporate action. Yes, Exxon has been the most aggressive against his nationalisation policies (incidentally, compensation is paid, the argument is over how much. The compensation offered is well over 3 times Exxons 'book value' on those assets). US gov't mandated? I don't know- but the US gov't says not.

This is a no win game he's playing. His reforms, whilst not necessarily bad in essence, are expensive. They rely on PDSA revenue. Which he is actively reducing, stupidly.

Intelligently carried out, I reckon he could get someplace. Right now, he looks like a loser. People are becoming disgruntled with him in Venezuela. He's just playing the populist fiddle to a dwindling audience.

Just on Aljazeera that has Chavez on and he said he has no intentions of cutting off crude supplies to the USA unless they attack him and then he will.

But he must, the poor paranoid prick, realize that if they do attack him then they will just take the fucking oil..He seems to be settling down some as of late.

Originally Posted by blackgang

Just on Aljazeera that has Chavez on and he said he has no intentions of cutting off crude supplies to the USA unless they attack him and then he will.

I don't think he means "attack" in the literal sense of the word, BG.

Rather that if Exxon et al continue to argue the toss over compensation regarding the nationalising.

He was just on again doing his red shirt thing and having a song about USA and Bush sung and making an ass out of his self, not anything like a leader of a country would do but like a drunk pimp peon.
And bitching about Exxon wanting their money, if he fucks to many of them then he can forget about doing much in his ioil fields and getting any equipment or people in to do anything and he will lose more production every day, he is down to 50% capacity that they used to pump and losing more every day. Oil fields are the same as any other fields, they need maint. and most will not come in and do it and his smart people quit and he is left with culls.

As I said earlier, there are very few heavy oil specialized refineries in the world. There are a couple in the US Gulf, and a couple in the Med. That's about it.

If he plays games, nobody can refine his shit oil. Period. The transport costs to the Southern Med are prohibitive.

He's blowing hot air.

*Environmental regulations prohibit the construction of more of these types of refineries. Very expensive, very time consuming and very regulatory intensive.

chavez's own people will eventually take care of him. ya can't go around taking peoples farms and property or someone will put a bullet in your head !!!

chavez stands alone now--fidel has quit and not long to live--interesting times ehhh?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7376852.stm


Chavez calls for steel takeover


Mr Chavez calls his reforms "21st Century socialism"



President Hugo Chavez has demanded that Venezuela's biggest steelmaker be expropriated - after government efforts to buy a majority stake failed.

Mr Chavez has set his sights on turning Siderurgica del Orinco (Sidor), which was 60% controlled by Luxembourg-based Ternium, into a "socialist company".

Talks to buy Ternium's stake collapsed when the sides could not agree a price.

Mr Chavez has taken control of foreign owned cement, telecommunications, electricity, oil and gas companies.

The president believes companies should concentrate on the domestic market before overseas sales, and has branded his reforms as "21st Century socialism".

Mr Chavez, whose government already owned 20% of Sidor, threatened to take control of the company last year unless it sold more of its steel in Venezuela.

He has sided with workers, who wanted better pay and benefits.
Separately, the president has increased the country's minimum wage by about 30% to offset the impact of inflation caused by the soaring oil price. The monthly minimum wage at is now $372, which Mr Chavez says is the highest in Latin America.