Chavez cuts off oil to the US!

[Mega]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080212/venez..._oil.html?.v=2

Holy sh*t!

Would China like to buy that heavy crude?
Mike

[Mega]

Re: Chavez cuts off oil to the US!

EJ, EJ i want EJ on this!!!!!!!
Mike

[sadsack]

Re: Chavez cuts off oil to the US!

This is bad news for gas prices on the Gulf coast, at least in the short term. Time to tank up!

How long will the great and noble WTO allow Venezuelan petro-thuggery to continue?

A British court issued an injunction last month temporarily freezing up to $12 billion of PDVSA's assets.

Ooh, with a bitch-slapping like that, 'ol Hugo must be apoplectic with rage.

The U.S. remains the No. 1 buyer of Venezuelan oil, and Chavez relies largely on U.S. oil money to stimulate his economy and bankroll social programs that have traditionally boosted his popularity.
Some analysts say it would make little sense for Chavez to follow through on his threats because Venezuela owns refineries in the United States that are customized to handle the South American country's heavy crude.

Hmm - how much of this is cutting off one's nose to spite one's face?

[Guest]

Re: Chavez cuts off oil to the US!

Miker -

So much for 'those greedy oil companies' - when they lose hundreds of millions on exploration costs to nationalizations, who underwrites their risk?

[Mega]

Re: Chavez cuts off oil to the US!

China/India will take that!
I guess, say 10% of US imports?
Mike

[zmas28]

Re: Chavez cuts off oil to the US!

Miker -

So much for 'those greedy oil companies' - when they lose hundreds of millions on exploration costs to nationalizations, who underwrites their risk?

Absolutely! We should call them 'needy' oil companies!

[FRED]

Re: Chavez cuts off oil to the US!

Absolutely! We should call them 'needy' oil companies!

Grease my Palm with Big Oil!

[GRG55]

Re: Chavez cuts off oil to the US!

China/India will take that!
I guess, say 10% of US imports?
Mike

Before China or India can take it, Venezuela has to produce it. For those companies that stayed [like BP], instead of exiting like Exxon and COP, here's their reward. Don't expect any major increases in Venezuelan oil output any time soon...

Hugo Chavez says new tax will target rising oil company earnings
Mon Mar 24, 8:26 PM
The Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela will soon impose a new tax on oil companies aimed at recouping a larger share of their rising profits, President Hugo Chavez said Monday.

The new levy will be a tax on "unexpected earnings" generated by the steep rise in world oil prices, Chavez said. His administration has readied a bill outlining the new tax - although he said it has not yet determined what the tax rate will be.

"They're earning money that they haven't accounted for," Chavez said in a televised speech. "Those large additional earnings aren't a product of any extraordinary effort. ... It isn't that they've invested more."

The move by Venezuela comes after the U.S. House of Representatives last month approved US$18 billion in new taxes on the largest oil companies, with Democrats citing record oil prices and rising gasoline costs in a time of economic troubles.

The White House, however, said the bill unfairly takes aim at the oil industry. U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to veto the legislation if it passes Congress.

Venezuela's socialist president, who has mentioned plans for the tax before, could approve the country's new tax by decree under fast-track powers that the National Assembly granted him last year. Those powers expire in July.

Chavez has moved to increase state control over the oil industry in recent years, while letting foreign companies stay on as minority partners in oil fields they once managed under contract.

In 2005, Chavez raised royalty rates to 30 per cent from 16.6 per cent on foreign firms operating heavy oil projects in the crude-rich Orinoco River region, and last year the government assumed majority control of those projects.

Companies operating in Venezuela include U.S.-based Chevron Corp., France's Total, Britain's BP PLC and others.

Chavez said the idea for a new tax arose from a conversation with Joseph Stiglitz, the 2001 Nobel Prize winner for economics.

"Those who are going to criticize me, well criticize me, but they'll be criticizing the Nobel laureate in economics Joseph Stiglitz," Chavez said.

Soaring oil prices have been linked to the falling value of the dollar, Chavez noted, blaming the U.S. slowdown on the "imperialist ambition of the president of the United States, among other things."

Chavez has called the U.S. war in Iraq an attempt to seize control of that country's oil.
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/2...ising-oil.html

[metalman]

Re: Chavez cuts off oil to the US!

"Those who are going to criticize me, well criticize me, but they'll be criticizing the Nobel laureate in economics Joseph Stiglitz," Chavez said.

poor stiglitz, lauded by a tinpot socialist dictator. that's what you get for speaking the truth in the usa... the only guys who will back you up are the nutballs.

what next, a chavez endorsement of itulip? can't be far behind the washington post's... :rolleyes: