Posted on 02/10/2008 2:07:55 PM PST by personalaccts
Chavez threatens to halt oil sales to US By SANDRA SIERRA, Associated Press Writer 13 minutes ago
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez on Sunday threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States in an "economic war" if Exxon Mobil Corp. wins court judgments to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.
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Exxon Mobil has gone after the assets of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA in U.S., British and Dutch courts as it challenges the nationalization of a multibillion dollar oil project by Chavez's government.
A British court has issued an injunction "freezing" as much as $12 billion in assets.
"If you end up freezing (Venezuelan assets) and it harms us, we're going to harm you," Chavez said during his weekly radio and television program, "Hello, President." "Do you know how? We aren't going to send oil to the United States. Take note, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger."
Chavez has repeatedly threatened to cut off oil shipments to the United States, which is Venezuela's No. 1 client, if Washington tries to oust him. Chavez's warnings on Sunday appeared to extend that threat to attempts by oil companies to challenge his government's nationalization drive through lawsuits.
"I speak to the U.S. empire, because that's the master: continue and you will see that we won't sent one drop of oil to the empire of the United States," Chavez said Sunday.
"The outlaws of Exxon Mobil will never again rob us," Chavez said, accusing the Irving, Texas-based oil company of acting in concert with Washington.
A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez has argued that court orders won by Exxon Mobil have "no effect" on the state oil company PDVSA and are merely "transitory measures" while Venezuela presents its case in courts in New York and London.
Exxon Mobil is also taking its claims to international arbitration, disputing the terms it was granted under Chavez's nationalization last year of four heavy oil projects in the Orinoco River basin, one of the world's richest oil deposits.
Other major oil companies including U.S.-based Chevron Corp., France's Total, Britain's BP PLC, and Norway's StatoilHydro ASA have negotiated deals with Venezuela to continue on as minority partners in the Orinoco oil project.
ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil, however, balked at the tougher terms and have been in compensation talks with PDVSA.
drilling in Alaska 45 miles off the coast of Fl (sad that China and Cuba are drilling)
"I drink your milkshake. I drink it up!"
Have we nuked him yet?
Bring it on you commie POS!
Good. Let him. His economy needs our cash. He’ll hurt himself mroe than us.
Maybe this will spur us to increase domestic production — but I guess not if McCain is in the Whtie House, no Hillary or Obama. so don’t vote for any of them. Vote only for candidates who actually care about our long-term security enough to promote energy independence.
At least if Chavez won’t sell to us, we don’t have to worry about how to promote an effective boycott!
Hey Chavez, hows sales at your Citgo stations coming along?
What an idiot. So they don’t sell directly to us, but they seell to someone else who sells to us. Net cost increase per barrel... pennies.
Gosh, we'll be forced to buy oil from . . . everybody else, who will trip over themselves to take over Venezuela's market share.
My take on it is that you're running out of cards, Pig Eyes.
Their oil stinks anyway. Really dirty and heavy.
He would be cutting his own nose off. Our refineries are the only refineries that can process his crude.
It’s time to wage total cyber warfare on the Venezuelan banking and military networks.
With these 2 economic genius’s Chavez & McCain, the best thing going is to dump Venezeula oil and let them sell it somewhere else, we’ll buy oil on the world market and boycott everything Chavez!
We should invade him and take his damn oil and claim it our own. He’s threatening us and it should be viewed as a threat. It’s a threat to our national interests - no matter how you slice it. Screw the peacenicks... when they whine that we’re “Invading Venenzuela for their oil”, we can say “Damn right we are!” ...
Oh well, oil wells that aren’t serving us make great targets for cruise missiles.
The US should quietly give Exxon enough H1-B visas to hire the best Venezuelan petroleum engineers.
Chavez is Spanish for Mugabe, I see.
The other major problem he has is his oil is heavy sour crude. Virtually all the refineries that can refine it are in the US.
So it is fine with me if we play chicken with him. He's got the far weaker position.
They’ve already left.
Oil production has be declining there for some time now.
Methinks “Happy Hugo” is asking for a cruise missile enema?
This is one of the risks of letting third world dictators control our energy supply. Energy independence now.
You can drink the oil for yourself El Puerco Chavez for all we care. Go back to your pigpen now.
For the most part he can’t.
His crude is heavy and sour and therefore difficult to process. Most of the world is incapable of refining his crude currently.
How would “Slant” Drilling solve any of these problems?
Just like his persona.
Chavez will soon learn the meaning of “fungible”; as in: “oil is a fungible commodity”.
I have some friends - REAL bad asses who wear a lot of camo and face paint - who are just itching for a chance to go and play with HUGO!
ANWR? Off-Shore drilling? Shale Oil development? Nuclear power? Alternative energy technology?
Hello... Time to tell these bastards to pound sand. All of them.
Lock and Load.
That yuk mayan crude out of VZ doesn’t have much of any place in the world where it can refined. That crude can only be refined in the USA? Chavez is all blow and NO go. HA HA HA...his economy is crashing...and can’t afford to cut his biggest market out......
The idiot should bring it on. Caracas in flames might be a beautiful site. Bush could turn into “Mr. Danger, “ lol. Bush is not Clinton thank, God.
Neither Hugo or many posters on this thread understand the concept of " fungible commodity”.
Is Chavez trying to blackmail us into voting for McCain?
OOOOOOO A threat from an insignificant third world A## wipe who thinks he is somebody , or so his mommy always told him. He needs an American boot up his ars!
Sulfur! Smell of burning sulfur anyone!
Joe Kennedy will be very disappointed.
This is completely meaningless. If Chavez sends his oil elsewhere, as he has threatened to do pretty often, it will still go into the world supply. If he sells it to China, for instance, China will buy less from other sources and they will be released for our use. The only effect would be that Chavez would make less money if the oil has to be shipped further.
Drain all his oil from offshore.
If the refineries for heavy crude are here, he will hurt himself. But if no one else can refine his oil, the sweet crude will have a higher demand world-wide. The demand will go up, as will the cost. Right?????
That is fine with me. He will pay a lot to learn a simple lesson of economics: oil is fungible. It is a lesson that Arab OPEC had to learn in the 1970’s when they refused to sell oil to any country that supported Israel.
I wont in the primaries on March 4th. Presidential is another story.
Good. Let him.
I agree.
Chavez: "If you end up freezing (Venezuelan assets) and it harms us, we're going to harm you,
I dont do ultimatums. Screw this guy, we always have other options.
Chavez: "Hello, President." "Do you know how? We aren't going to send oil to the United States. Take note, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger."
Thats President Danger to you, ya Sheehan hugging, Castro loving, goat herding, tin-pot 3rd world dictator.
If our only options for President next year is Obama, Hillary or McCain, then I miss Mr. Danger already.
.......We use our economic clout to isolate this guy.....
His economy is pretty well dependant on US exports.
If American Fortune 500 companies cease exports to Hugo’s people his economy will stall. The price of European replacements will break his back.
a
That is not only preposterous but impossible.
Yeah. It was a joke.
The Citgo stations in my area are long gone. One is now an Exxon station, another is now a Shell station and the other one is some "independent brand". I'm not sure which one since I hardy go there anyway.
All three dropped the Citgo brand like a hot rock after his "comments".
“All three dropped the Citgo brand like a hot rock after his “comments”.”
Same thing is happening here. I sometimes wonder if they’ve just changed the name.
The longest reach ever by a directional well in under nine miles from center which would mean one would have to set-up a platform on Lake Maracaibo.
Therefore, every time you fill your tank Hugo is making money.
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