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China-Japan-Koreas

China pays $5/bbl shipping surcharge for Venezuelan crude

2006-01-09

NINGBO, China - In perhaps the most remarkable sign of the Sino-U.S. tug of war on energy, supertankers are making the costly 40- to 45-day journey to China from Venezuela, a traditional and consistent U.S. supplier.
Woohoo! Dateline Ningbo! We're famous!
If the tankers were to offload at the U.S. Gulf Coast, it would take only a four-day sail. Venezuela's anti-American leader, Hugo Chavez, sharply raised exports to China this fall, boosting heavy crude and fuel oil exports by 170,000 barrels per day and pledging to reach 300,000 barrels per day by the end of 2006. "Everybody is competing to sell oil to China, and we won't be left behind," Venezuelan Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters in Caracas. Shipping costs add roughly $5 per barrel to the oil, but Venezuela insists it isn't subsidizing sales to China.
Of course not...there's kickbacks in there.
China is returning the favor with new oil exploration capital, a $250 million plan for a telecommunications network and offers to launch a satellite for Venezuela. To the north, China is taking a strong interest in Canada's vast oil sands deposits, investing in a $2 billion oil pipeline project and taking bites of smaller private companies. "Every barrel that Canada sells to the Chinese is one less barrel it can sell to the United States," said energy analyst Gal Luft, noting that Western Hemisphere crude exports to China "will essentially make the United States more dependent on Middle East oil."

Posted by:gromky

#8 Whether you or Mr. Wife supervises the driver training, be sure to keep the radio off. You actually get some real conversation that way.
I took daughters #1 and 2 for driving lessons because I know the backroads well; and we enjoyed it.

Posted by: mom 2006-01-09 22:21

#7 Agreed about driving while calling, Besoeker, although men can be just as bad... it's just that y'all tend not to multi-task as often. ;-)

a5089, merci beaucoup! You are kind. The reason I'm not involved in td#1's training is because I didn't actually get my own driver's licence until a few months before I married Mr. Wife -- my bicycle sufficed until his first business trip. ;-)

Bomb-a-rama, td#1 may learn to drive a motorcycle after getting her basic automobile licence. We don't own such a thing, and with Cincinnati's icy winters and extensive hills, that is a summer pleasure. However, I'm sure my sister would be pleased to teach her that skill when the time comes, and she already has the equipment (ahhh, the joys of not being penniless after a summer working at Los Alamos!).

We'll keep y'all updated!

Posted by: trailing wife 2006-01-09 21:31

#6 ..recommend she not drive and operate a phone simultaneously.

I have a better idea: she should learn to ride a motorcycle. Learn to spot the stupid people, their stupid habits/tendencies, and react/adjust accordingly. And that mindset does carry over into four-wheeled motoring.

Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2006-01-09 20:50

#5 No way for this to come out right... but, recommend she not drive and operate a phone simultaneously. "Guns don't kill people, women driving suvs while talking on cellulars do."

Posted by: Besoeker 2006-01-09 12:11

#4 Ms. TW, good luck and my best wishes for Trailing Daughter #1, but I'm sure she'll do very well, she has a clever bunch of family folks to draw from, teaching or not, judging from your always pleasant and reasoned posts; anyway, the USA are a nation of drivers, endless roads, and big (preferably chromed) cars, or so it seems to me from that side of the pond, I can't see how she would do without a driver's license.

Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-01-09 11:53

#3 I thought part of Chavez's problem was that he had driven out the knowledgable workers in the petroleum industry and replaced them with ignorant henchmen on the one hand, and refused to invest in maintenance on the other, thus significantly reducing Venezuela's petroleum output over recent years? If so, all he is doing is poking the U.S. in the eye while charging his faltering economy for the privilege of doing so. In the meantime, I have friends who are in the market for their second hybrid vehicle, and I'm hoping that if I talk fast enough Mr. Wife will lead with his heart and buy me a hybrid something when the transmission on the minivan gives up, as it seems to want to do. (He fell in love with the expensive Toyota something-or-other when he went looking at the RAV he wants to drive until trailing daughter #1 gets her licence (she got her learner's permit on Saturday -- and no, I'm not going to be involved in her training).)

Posted by: trailing wife 2006-01-09 11:46

#2 Good.
China is the fastest growing economy and its thirst for oil has driven the prices high: if Venezuela produces more and more oil, the total oil in the market will increase and the prices decrease.
Subversives are stupid.

Posted by: Poitiers-Lepanto 2006-01-09 10:08

#1 Article: "Every barrel that Canada sells to the Chinese is one less barrel it can sell to the United States," said energy analyst Gal Luft, noting that Western Hemisphere crude exports to China "will essentially make the United States more dependent on Middle East oil."

This is pretty silly, because whether or not the US buys oil from Middle Eastern countries, it is dependent on Middle Eastern oil. The only way to not be dependent on Middle Eastern oil is not to consume oil*. There is just one global market for oil, a concept that seems foreign to this oil "analyst".

* Even if the US consumed less oil than it produced domestically, oil prices would be set based on how much Middle Eastern countries want to produce.

Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-01-09 01:26

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