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Caribbean-Latin America | |
Venezuela's oil output slumps under Hugo Chavez | |
2008-10-13 | |
WTG Hooogo! Venezuela's daily oil production has fallen by a quarter since President Hugo Chavez won power, depriving his "Bolivarian Revolution" of much of the benefit of the global boom in oil prices. To win allies and forge an anti-American front, Mr Chavez sells oil to friendly countries at low prices. Ironically, the only big customer buying Venezuelan oil at the full market price is the United States, which the president routinely denounces as the "Empire". "As production falls, the sales to the US become more important," said Pietro Donatello, an oil analyst from Latin Petroleum in the capital, Caracas. "Only the US is paying the full amount for Venezuelan oil and in cash, the rest are in some kind of barter agreements."
The other half - 1.2 million barrels per day - goes to America, Venezuela's only genuinely paying customer. Meanwhile, Mr Chavez has given PDVSA countless new tasks. "The new PDVSA is central to the social battle for the advance of our country," said Rafael Ramirez, the company's president and the minister for petroleum. "We have worked to convert PDVSA into a key element for the social battle." The company now grows food after Mr Chavez's price controls emptied supermarket shelves of products like milk and eggs. Another branch produces furniture and domestic appliances in an effort to stem the flow of imports. What PDVSA seems unable to do is produce more oil. | |
Posted by:Frank G |
#4 I got nothing. Nothing but hot Venezuelan Chicks! http://tinyurl.com/45gom . |
Posted by: OregonGuy 2008-10-13 18:49 |
#3 You go, Hugo! |
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2008-10-13 14:48 |
#2 I've actually heard that their production is lower than 2.4 million barrels/day, but I can't find the link. I guess google's been gamed again, when I try searching there all I find are caustic leftists (the sort who support Chavez' seizure of TV stations because 'paid speech is different from free speech') insulting the opposition for believing that sort of thing. -------------------------------- I guess there's a _lot_ of money in making Venezuela's production numbers look bigger than they really are. |
Posted by: Tranquil Mechanical Yeti 2008-10-13 12:35 |
#1 When are the Venezuelans going to wake up to the pimping of their country's resources? |
Posted by: Bulldog 2008-10-13 11:58 |