H14689
Headlines : CorporationsVenezuela forces US oil giants out
After years of enjoying a paltry 1% royalty committment to the Venezuelan government and after years of record profits, ExxonMobil along with ConocoPhillips are extracting themselves from Venezuela.
While the royalties have been raised to 33.2% and taxes have been increased from 34% to 50%, four other companies have chosen to work with Hugo Chavez and remain in the country.
A statement was released by the U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey, which agreed that Venezuela “like any other government, has the right to make these kinds of decisions to change ownership rules or other kinds of regulations”. Yet this situation clearly ratchets the tension between the two countries even further.
A previous statement from former presidential candidate, Pat Robertson in reference to assassinating Hugo Chavez: “I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don’t think any oil shipments will stop.”
[Posted By antiguanoctane]Republished from ABC News Online
Venezuela has moved closer to nationalising its oil-rich Orinoco River basin, as four foreign oil companies signed deals giving Venezuela the lion’s share of the profits and two US companies pulled out altogether.
“ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips are ending their participation in the exploration ventures,” Oil and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Tuesday at the signing ceremony with France’s Total, Norway’s Statoil, British Petroleum and US company Chevron.
“If all the foreign oil companies leave, the Venezuelan oil industry will be in a shamble,” said Alaron market analyst Phil Flynn in New York.
Posted by antiguanoctane
hunter & gatherer of real news from real sources.
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The U.S. government greeted the news about Conoco and Exxon with dismay. “It’s not just Venezuela,” said Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman. “We have problems with Nigeria. We have problems with Russia with development of resources.”
ExxonMobil’s Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia may be the latest foreign-controlled energy project to fall into the Kremlin’s sights. Russian gas monopoly OAO Gazprom (GSPBEX.RS) said last week it wants to block gas exports from Sakhalin-1 to China because the gas is needed to satisfy domestic demand.
[PAUSE FOR MD EFFECT : so China will have to rely more heavily on OTHER sources]
Sakhalin-1 is the last major foreign-owned energy project on Russian soil, after Gazprom used similar tactics to gain control of Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s ( RDSB.LN) Sakhalin-2 and BP’s Kovykta gas projects.
END OF QUOTE and now
FOR our next act :
President Hugo Chavez arrives in Moscow esta noche.
Trade, energy security will top agenda of Putin-Chavez talks
MOSCOW. June 27 (Interfax) – Priority at the talks of the presidents of Russia and Venezuela Vladimir Putin and Hugo Chavez will be given to trade and economic relations and guarantees of global energy security
I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don’t think any oil shipments will stop
wow. only heard the 1st part of that quote before. and what is taking so long anyway? maybe its a bay of pigs type of thing where they are leaving him alone.
China Petrochemical Corp., the nation’s second-largest oil producer, is in talks to drill in Venezuela, where ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. pulled out after President Hugo Chavez seized their assets.
China will invest $2 billion in Venezuela’s oil industry, including developing the Junin oilfield, in which China National Petroleum, the country’s biggest oil producer, has an interest, Chavez said Aug. 25.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec Corp., may cooperate with Venezuela’s state petrochemical company Pequiven to build a petrochemical plant in the country, Pequiven President Saul Ameliach said Aug. 23.
..And this is fun
Insecure, narcissistic and petulant – how Washington sees Chávez
ah. so the plot thickens…
...its easy to tell the jerks who have been walking all over you to FO, when there is someone standing behind them ready to offer up a sweeter deal.