Venezuela syncrude challenging Mideast oil in U.S.--[Excerpt] The first shipment of Sincor will go to TotalFinaElf's refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, this month. Sincor is expected to hit full production by the end of the year.
U.S. refiner Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corp., a unit of Valero Energy Corp. has signed a three-year contract to take 45,000 bpd of the new ``Zuata Sweet'' crude to its Three Rivers refinery near Corpus Christi, Texas.
While analysts and oil companies warn that new oil terms put in place under Venezuela's new hydrocarbon's law may prevent further heavy oil investment, the Ministry of Energy and Mines said the tar belt would provide stable supply for decades.
``We have oil in the Orinoco to last for the next 35 to 40 years,'' said a Ministry spokesman. [End Excerpt]
Venezuela's Chavez says he'll declare emergency and militarize company if oil workers strike-[Excerpt] CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez is ready to declare a state of emergency if oil-workers at the nation's state-owned oil monopoly try to paralyze production.
Chavez accused opposition labor and political leaders of sowing discontent at Petroleos de Venezuela SA and said he had a contingency plan ready should workers and management go on strike. He didn't elaborate on the plan.
"If they shut down the company, we'll militarize it. I am not going to allow Petroleos de Venezuela to be shut down," Chavez said.
"It won't bother me to continue to fulfill my obligation, to sign an emergency decree. This is a company of high strategic value, and I am ready to order its intervention and throw out those who don't want to be there," he said. [End Excerpt]
Castro, Chávez Decry Inequalities, Condemn IMF [Excerpt] MONTERREY, Mexico--The world is living "a true genocide" and one cannot blame "this strategy on the poor countries. They are not the ones who conquered and pillaged entire continents over the centuries, nor did they establish colonialism, implant slavery, or create modern- day imperialism," said the Cuban leader in a speech that won enthusiastic applause from NGO delegates at the conference.
According to his colleague Chávez, the world "is not only twisted," but it is "backwards," and the leaders of the world must straighten it out, he said in his address on behalf of the Group of 77, a bloc of 133 developing countries, plus China. "In name of all the poor of the planet," the Venezuelan president called upon governments "to act, and not just speak," and urged them to save the world, which, he said, suffers a grave "social crisis." He also demanded that the role of the IMF be revised, because its "recipes" for development have been "venom" for poor countries.
According to Castro, the final document to be signed by the government officials Friday in Monterrey is "a project of consensus that has been imposed upon us by the masters of the world...in which we resign ourselves to humiliating, conditional, and interventionist handouts." "It is time for calm reflection among politicians and national leaders. The belief that an economic and social order that has proven to be unsustainable can be imposed by force is a crazy idea," he said. The discourse laid out by Castro and Chávez was among the only ones that the NGO leaders said they supported. [End Exceprt]
Scenerio...Argentina certainly is in no position to pay its debts, Castro doesn't like us (I still think the best diplomacy would've been to put a major league baseball team in Havana, let tours go there for games/beach/partying...the country would have been Westernized, fast), Brazil needs oil to go along with its resources and land, the US is so involved with NATO/Middle East, China comes up in these discussions about South American unity. China already has a presence in the Panama Canal.
The reason it seems that the mideast is under control is that it sounds like Saudi and Kuwait aren't going to miss an opportunity to gouge the West for oil revenue. But it's this wild card...
Spoken like a true idiot ! Operating oil wells today is a highly technical, sophisticated business. In this situation the military will have little more value than a herd of chimpanzees from the nearest zoo. Improper operation could result in permanent production cuts, both in rates and reserves.
Somebody needs to give Chavez a little less Marxist fervor and a little more horse sense.