Article

2005-03-06 Caribbean-Latin America

US to switch oil providers if Venezuela cuts supplies: US Ambassador

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by TMH 2005-03-06 9:45:22 AM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 well start on the other sourcing now, then remind El Presidente that there's now no reason not to put the target on his back. Kill him

Posted by Frank G 2005-03-06 11:08:57 AM|| 2005-03-06 11:08:57 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 "There is in the US ... a plan to assassinate me,"

A plan? That's gotta be Kerry; he had lots of plans a few months ago. Bush and Rove are more into insidious plots and nefarious schemes.

Posted by Raj 2005-03-06 11:20:14 AM|| 2005-03-06 11:20:14 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 You do not want to make a martyr out of this asshole by killing him. By looking for other providers, the US will put a serious dent in his budget. The useless social programs and subsidies that up to now have kept him in power will be cut down or eliminated all together.
Hugo can still sell his oil but at a huge discount, not enough to keep his propaganda machine well oiled.

Posted by TMH 2005-03-06 11:23:09 AM|| 2005-03-06 11:23:09 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 fine....you take away all our fun...dammit

Posted by Frank G 2005-03-06 11:25:35 AM|| 2005-03-06 11:25:35 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 I agree,killing him might stir up more of a hornets nest, we should stop buying his oil though, Citgo is Venezualen.

Posted by Crorong Gramble7118 2005-03-06 11:31:39 AM|| 2005-03-06 11:31:39 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Someone will buy his oil, but that means other oil which the buyer would have bought becomes available for American companies to procure. Its all a movement on paper. But enough to scare idiots to drive prices up [of course faster than they ever come down with the same spot prices]. Regardless of what Hugo does, the refinery capacity of the US is still a fixed ceiling which hasn't changed for over a decade.

Posted by Cleamp Ebbereling9442 2005-03-06 11:32:52 AM|| 2005-03-06 11:32:52 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 I thought the issue was that they have funky high sulfur crude and that we have the refineries set up to deal with. That binds us whether we like it our not.

Posted by Classical_Liberal 2005-03-06 12:45:15 PM|| 2005-03-06 12:45:15 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 CL: I thought the issue was that they have funky high sulfur crude and that we have the refineries set up to deal with. That binds us whether we like it our not.

No - it binds *Venezuela*. Our refineries can deal with the good stuff and the crap (Venezuela's product). Foreign refineries cannot deal with Venezuela's low grade stuff - yet.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2005-03-06 12:53:09 PM|| [http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2005-03-06 12:53:09 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 I say its time to open the North Shore fields of Alaska and tell the environuts to go f themselves.

Posted by CrazyFool 2005-03-06 12:57:25 PM|| 2005-03-06 12:57:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 North Slope, CF. It will take some time to get it literally into the pipeline. The crime of it all is that the so-called environmentalists have been making it a big emotional issue and have stalled the legislation for years.

As far as Hugo the Crude goes, he needs the cash flow to keep his gig going. If his economy goes down, people will be pissed off and will eventually deal with him.

We need to get out of the blatant olde CIA manipulation mode. Not that we would not give covert help to groups that could take back their country. I am sure that we are giving some kind of assistance to pro-democracy types in Lebanon. We need to assist other groups like that in Venezuela. Let them do the heavy lifting. Sorta taking the high ground, if you get my drift. Goes along with President Bush's Inauguration speech theme.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2005-03-06 1:08:53 PM|| 2005-03-06 1:08:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 Thanks for the clarification ZF. Hugo's new friends in China better get busy retooling some refineries.

Posted by Classical_Liberal 2005-03-06 1:22:11 PM|| 2005-03-06 1:22:11 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Hugo's new friends in China better get busy retooling some refineries

especially if they wanna meet their Kyoto quota.....oh, wait....shit

Posted by Frank G 2005-03-06 2:11:50 PM|| 2005-03-06 2:11:50 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Just stop shopping at Citgo, and see how fast Hugo sinks into the sunset. A friend of mine was telling me about a new injection process that can be used here at home to "revive" several sluggish or non-producing fields. It's only competetive when oil's over $45 a barrel at the moment, but that may change. We might want to help Colombia out, both with its guerilla problem and with its oil program. With directional drilling, I'm sure we can tap a few good fields...

Posted by Old Patriot 2005-03-06 2:12:46 PM|| [http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2005-03-06 2:12:46 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 Good idea OP, there's a lot of historical knowledge and knowhow in directional drlling. There's a reason Arkansas never became a rich oil producing centre.... Texans. :)

Posted by Shipman 2005-03-06 3:14:08 PM|| 2005-03-06 3:14:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 Old Patriot:

Around Hennessey, Oklahoma, several companies have been working on that process since before 1995. There are other places in Oklahoma as well, but that it the one the pipeyard I was threading pipe for was into supplying.

Posted by badanov 2005-03-06 3:17:34 PM|| [http://www.rkka.org] 2005-03-06 3:17:34 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 OP---We have a stainless fabricator and panel shop up here that makes solar-powered wellhead controls for BP Colombia's oil fields. I've nicknamed them the Medienne Control system, heh heh. They are pretty robust units, but about 7 of them have taken serious bullet hits. Oh, well, just fire up the production line again....

Posted by Alaska Paul 2005-03-06 4:24:43 PM|| 2005-03-06 4:24:43 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 Everyone needs to say a great big ~~Fuck~~ Thank You to Jimmy Carter for endorsing this hooligan and thug, and propping him up.

Next time, shoot Jimmy before he does more harm. North Korea, Cuba, Venzuela...

Posted by OldSpook 2005-03-06 5:26:16 PM|| 2005-03-06 5:26:16 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 "Hugo's new friends in China better get busy retooling some refineries.."

I do not know if China is doing it but India is!
"On Friday, Aiyar said India would also offer Venezuela equity in Mangarlore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), the refining subsidiary of ONGC.
........Indiaâs sole private refiner, Reliance Industries has imported Venezuelan crude in recent years but state-run firms have not processed oil from the country. Aiyar said MRPLâs refinery could process Venezuelan crude and other oil firms were assessing which grades of oil from the country they could refine. "

http://in.news.yahoo.com/050305/137/2jzwk.html

Posted by TMH 2005-03-06 5:39:55 PM|| 2005-03-06 5:39:55 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 thisn gotta have chainey creemin him pants

Posted by muck4doo 2005-03-06 6:01:25 PM|| [http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/] 2005-03-06 6:01:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 Don't forget Iran, Oldspook.

Posted by ed 2005-03-06 6:04:37 PM|| 2005-03-06 6:04:37 PM|| Front Page Top

#21 So how about we give Jimmy to Iran Old Spook? I'm sure he's a big hero to them over there and they'll be happy to take him...course, I was thinking an involuntary covert insertion for him since I don't think we want to give him the choice.

Posted by Silentbrick 2005-03-06 8:41:17 PM|| 2005-03-06 8:41:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#22 From thirty thousand feet, Silentbrick? Pretty please! And as he is one of God's chosen, at least according to his own assessment, I'm sure he won't want a parachute. The angels will guide his feet where they should go, y'know.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-03-06 10:48:03 PM|| 2005-03-06 10:48:03 PM|| Front Page Top

#23 Ship - Re #14... think Billy Sol Estes, lol!

Posted by .com 2005-03-06 10:53:34 PM|| 2005-03-06 10:53:34 PM|| Front Page Top

#24 Directional Drilling is big stuff around the Midway Sunset field right here where I live badanov.

That heavy crude is not a popular type of oil and doesn't command the top price either. Those per bbl prices are for light sweet not heavy sour skanky oil.

Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-03-06 11:00:05 PM|| [http://www.slhess.com] 2005-03-06 11:00:05 PM|| Front Page Top

#25 I was thinking more along the lines of a specially fitted casing, and dropping him from whatever altitude the B-2 flies way up there at. And while there won't be a parachute, there would be a laser guidence system so we can ensure he lands right where he's supposed to...through the bedroom window of the Revolutionary Guard leader.

Posted by Silentbrick 2005-03-06 11:07:03 PM|| 2005-03-06 11:07:03 PM|| Front Page Top

#26 TMH's article: Indiaâs sole private refiner, Reliance Industries has imported Venezuelan crude in recent years but state-run firms have not processed oil from the country.

They're going to ship something halfway around the world that by weight, costs about the same as mineral water. There's a reason why oil producers tend to sell oil to countries that are close to them. Chavez will get less for Venezuela's oil. Uncle Sam will pay a little more to get oil from further away. On balance, Uncle Sam's additional cost will probably be about the same as Venezuela's reduction in revenue. Who do you think is in a better position to take the hit - the US or the Venezuelan economy?

Posted by Zhang Fei 2005-03-06 11:54:48 PM|| [http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2005-03-06 11:54:48 PM|| Front Page Top

#27 Everyone needs to say a great big ~~Fuck~~ Thank You to Jimmy Carter for endorsing this hooligan and thug, and propping him up.

Next time, shoot Jimmy before he does more harm. North Korea, Cuba, Venzuela...

Posted by OldSpook 2005-03-06 5:26:16 PM|| 2005-03-06 5:26:16 PM|| Front Page Top

#28 Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]

Posted by OldSpook 2005-03-06 5:26:16 PM|| 2005-03-06 5:26:16 PM|| Front Page Top

11:34 Bulldog
11:34 Bulldog
11:33 Bulldog
11:33 Bulldog
11:29 Bulldog
11:29 Bulldog
00:00 trailing wife
23:54 Zhang Fei
23:52 Aris Katsaris
23:50 trailing wife
23:48 Phil Fraering
23:34 2b
23:26 2b
23:25 AzCat
23:21 Sobiesky
23:19 trailing wife
23:18 Robert Crawford
23:16 Robert Crawford
23:09 Alaska Paul
23:07 JosephMendiola
23:07 Alaska Paul
23:07 Silentbrick
23:04 JosephMendiola
23:04 Sock Puppet of Doom