Oh, great. Russia takes over Venezuela’s oil industry

Hotair.com ^ | December 26, 2018 | JAZZ SHAW

[GOPJ]

Venezuela’s oil is one of the most difficult to refine in the world, thus far less desirable that almost any other source. Only a few refineries (mostly in the US) can actually handle it.

Trump's NOT going to refine oil for Russians on the cheap... not in our USA...

[Wonder Warthog]

"Trump's NOT going to refine oil for Russians on the cheap... not in our USA..."

I doubt Trump can do much of anything. There are long-term supply contracts in place that date from "before socialism" that AFAIK have not been either voided or re-negotiated.

[Wonder Warthog]

"The oil from the Maracaibo Basin is good stuff. The oil from the Orinoco is a “heavy crude” and much less valuable do to refinery costs to process this heavy crude. Venezuela did build one of the most modern refinery in the world to utilize this heavy crude. This was pre Chavez. That refinery today operates at about 25% of capacity. The workers that knew how to make it work just went away. They refused to work for paltry wage."

I'm not familiar with the Maracaibo oil composition. My exposure has been only to the Orinoco. I suspect that Maracaibo crude doesn't get shipped to refineries in the US, but to places that can't handle the Orinoco stuff.

I feel for the folks in Venezuela. One of my good friends from college days back in the 1970's was from Venezuela, majoring in petroleum engineering. Genius-level intelligence and from a family of Jews who had fled Germany to Venezuela ahead of Hitler. Hope they had the good sense to get out yet again.

[AdmSmith]

This is why Venezuela is inviting Putin

https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/South-America/Venezuela-A-Real-Threat-To-Guyanas-Oil-Boom.html

[ETL]

This is beyond unlikely to happen. Russia is not the enemy of the USA.

Russia has never stopped being an enemy. Plus they arm and stand behind nearly every other enemey of ours.

[ETL]

This is beyond unlikely to happen. Russia is not the enemy of the USA.

How Russia arms America's southern neighbors

Ioan Grillo
May 9, 2014

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Russia's push into Ukraine has put many on edge. But less known is that Russia is also strengthening its military links south of the Rio Grande and re-establishing itself as a power in the region.

Vladimir Putin has been strengthening military links here, and Russia is now the largest arms dealer to governments in Latin America, surpassing the United States.

Russia has even floated the possibility of building new military bases in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, and putting its warships permanently in the Caribbean.

In the midst of the Ukraine crisis, Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov recently visited Cuba, Peru, Chile, and Nicaragua, where he announced that Russia would also pour money into the new Central American canal project. ..."

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/140508/russian-arms-military-trade-latin-america
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Russia Boosts Arms, Training for Leftist Latin Militaries

Moscow defense minister inks deals with Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua for joint exercises

BY: Bill Gertz
February 20, 2015

Russia agreed to provide military training for three leftist regimes in Latin America and increase military visits and exercises following a visit last week to the region by Moscow's Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu, Pentagon officials said.

Shoygu met with defense and military leaders in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua and signed several agreements on warship visits and military training during the visit, which ran from Feb. 11 to 14. It is not clear whether any new arms deals were completed during the visit.

Defense officials said the Russian leader is seeking bases in the region for strategic bomber flights that Shoygu recently promised would include flights over the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russia-boosts-arms-training-for-leftist-latin-militaries/

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KGB/FSB Putin very much wants a 'unified Korea'...under communist NK rule

________________________________

Russia and North Korea declare 2015 a ‘year of friendship’

“The biggest cause for concern is the growing military alliance between Russia and North Korea, with the two regimes recently announcing plans to conduct a series of joint army, navy and air force exercises this year.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/11463265/Russia-and-North-Korea-declare-2015-a-year-of-friendship.html

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Russia steps up North Korea support to constrain US

May 17, 2017

“Despite efforts by the United Nations to impose isolating sanctions on North Korea in response to the country’s continued development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles, trade between Russia and North Korea soared more than 85 percent in the first four months of the year.”

http://www.dw.com/en/russia-steps-up-north-korea-support-to-constrain-us/a-38867861

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Sept 5, 2017

North Korea nuclear crisis: Putin calls sanctions useless

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said pursuing further sanctions against North Korea is “useless”, saying “they’d rather eat grass than give up their nuclear programme”.

The US said on Monday it would table a new UN resolution on tougher sanctions in the wake of the latest test of a nuclear bomb by the North on Sunday.

Mr Putin also said that the ramping up of “military hysteria” could lead to global catastrophe.

He said diplomacy was the only answer.

China, the North’s main ally, has also called for a return to negotiations. ...”

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41158281

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From the Sino-Russian Joint Statement of April 23, 1997:
"The two sides [China and Russia] shall, in the spirit of partnership, strive to promote the multipolarization of the world and the establishment of a new international order."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HI29Ag01.html
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"Joint war games are a logical outcome of the Sino-Russian Friendship and Cooperation Treaty signed in 2001, and reflect the shared worldview and growing economic ties between the two Eastern Hemisphere giants."

http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2005/09/war-games-russia-china-grow-alliance

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Aug 2015

[ETL]

Sounds like good business to me.

[AdmSmith]

What happened, I agree with the labor union:

“What we are witnessing is a policy of destroying the oil industry,” said Jose Bodas, general secretary of the Oil Workers Federation, a national labour union. “The military officials don’t listen to workers. They want to give orders, but they don’t understand this complicated work.”

https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/other/301657-military-run-pdvsa-unable-to-meet-expectations-of-oil-production-in-venezuela

[familyop]

There’s another consideration that most people are unaware of. Military pursuits consume enormous amounts of oil in very short amounts of time. Without huge quantities of it, a nation can lose a war.

And yet another... A nation that can regulate oil that’s needed by other nations might gain some control over those nations in foreign relations and matters of war. For example, the nations that lack oil resources might postpone needed defense measures in order to get enough oil to keep their economies going. Expansionism and invasions are carried out.

[familyop]

Some interests have been perpetrating a myth that our enemies can see right through. They’ve been beating the drum of implication that we are oil independent and produce more than we use.

That is false, and it keeps our populace under an illusion that we only fight foreign wars, sometimes to re-secure oil resources, for big investors. We do it for future national survival. The U.K. and other countries are facing an existential problem because of oil resource manipulations managed by incursions, invasions and debt schemes of their adversaries.

We use more oil than we produce. The net export (exports vs. imports) propaganda is a red herring.

[AdmSmith]

Last week the web site of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) carried a story about the United States becoming a new oil exporter for the first time in weekly data back to 1991. This doesn’t mean that we stopped importing crude oil and petroleum products because we were self-sufficient, but rather that our exports exceeded our imports. According to the EIA, for the week of November 24-30, the U.S. exported 3.2 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil, along with 5.8 million b/d of refined petroleum products, such as gasoline, heating oil and propane. The total of 9.0 million b/d of petroleum exports exceeded our total imports of 7.2 million b/d of crude oil and 1.6 million b/d of refined petroleum products by 200,000 b/d.
http://energy-musings.com/node/460#3

But, it is all due to the oil price.

[AdmSmith]

Deputy head of the State Duma, Oleg Nilov, equates U.S. withdrawal from Syria with the battle of Stalingrad, says Americans are “capitulating.” Now, Nilov says, Russia will reap its dividends in oil — from Syria, Iran, Venezuela.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx2e2kuMi-M

[AdmSmith]

Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA is telling customers of its joint ventures to deposit oil sales proceeds in an account recently opened at Russia’s Gazprombank AO, according to sources and an internal document seen by Reuters on Saturday.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-pdvsa-banks-exclus-idUSKCN1PY0N3

Are we surprised?

[AdmSmith]

Is this why Russia is taking over the Venezuelan oil industry:

Russian oil production might never recover to pre-coronavirus levels, the country's Energy Ministry has forecast, according to the Kommersant business paper.

In a strategy document outlining prospects for Russia's critical oil and gas industry, the government said its “base case” — or most likely — scenario is that Russia's oil production will never again hit the record levels recorded in 2019.
the Energy Ministry expects production to pass pre-coronavirus levels, peaking in 2030 at 12.8 million barrels a day before starting to decline. In every scenario presented, the Energy Ministry said Russian oil production had either already peaked, or would hit its maximum level within the next decade, Kommersant reported.

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2021/04/russia-may-have-passed-peak-oil-output-government