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| Home Front: Politix |
| US ‘not ready’ for Chávez oil ban threat |
| 2006-06-14 |
| A Venezuelan embargo on oil exports to the US would lead to an immediate 15 per cent surge in world oil prices and crimp economic growth in the short term, according to a US congressional investigation. The study by the Government Accountability Office, CongressÂ’s non-partisan investigative agency, obtained by the Financial Times before its release this month, warns that the US is inadequately prepared for a potential loss of oil from Venezuela. The investigation was requested 18 months ago by Senator Richard Lugar, Republican chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, reflecting growing concerns about the reliability of Venezuelan oil supplies. Mr Lugar, who has described energy as a national security issue, introduced legislation in March that called on the US to expand its international co-operation on energy issues. The findings are likely to embolden his efforts. |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #12 Oil is a global commodity. I agree with Big Jim. Blockade Hugo's ass and let's see who starves first. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-06-14 20:55 |
| #11 ;-) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-06-14 17:38 |
| #10 Oil is fungible, it just moves around like a bubble under linoleum. Hugo is delusional. Judy! Judy! Look here, this guys a real Civil Engineer! I told 'ya I saw it! We can also ask Frank about the grass writing and possible scientific explanations. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-06-14 15:29 |
| #9 IIUC not all refineries can handle the Venezuelan oil sludge? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-06-14 12:03 |
| #8 (mental image of Hugo as a bubble under my linoleum) |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-06-14 11:59 |
| #7 Oil is fungible, it just moves around like a bubble under linoleum. Hugo is delusional. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-06-14 11:54 |
| #6 If the little man wants to play hardball why don't we oblidge him? A navy blockade bottling up his exports would see him broke in a month. Now even he could understand the dynamics of that. Extreme, but we are talking about the life of our economy here. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-06-14 10:54 |
| #5 Also, since the Venezuelan national oil company owns 5 refineries in the US and Citgo gas stations, their exposure to US economic retaliation is great. If they violate their delivery contracts and cutoff the supply, we can seize their assets in the US. Wave goodbye to the refineries and Citgo, Hugo. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2006-06-14 03:51 |
| #4 Hey, keep quiet and let the moron think that giving his oil away somehow hurts us. Grab some popcorn and enjoy the show. Invite some friends over so you won't be laughing all by yourself. And yes, they've got quite a bit of oil. Not as much as some, but enough to push the big oil companies around, and they have to put up with it all with a smile on their face. |
| Posted by: grb 2006-06-14 03:10 |
| #3 This is ridiculous. Let's say Hugo stops selling oil to the US. So instead he sells it to, let's say, France. Does France start using twice as much oil? No, of course not. They leave whatever they would have bought on the world market where it can be bought by anyone, including the US. All that's happened is Chavez lowers his revenues, since he had to lower the price to get the French to buy stuff they currently don't want enough to pay for. He could stop selling oil altogether. That would be a shock to the world economy for a time. Without the money, though, Hugo would be looking at the sh-thammer of history slamming down on his head at warp speed. We would live through it, he literally would not. No, I think we can safely say the sky is not falling on this one. |
| Posted by: Baba Tutu 2006-06-14 02:50 |
| #2 Sure. He's got the 100K barrels/day or so he's buying from Russia. LOL. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-06-14 00:22 |
| #1 When is the GAO right???? Hugo's given so much away, does he really have any? |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2006-06-14 00:15 |