Article

2007-05-02 Caribbean-Latin America

Venezuela takes operations from big oil companies

Venezuela stripped the world's biggest oil companies of operational control over massive Orinoco Belt crude projects on Tuesday, a vital move in President Hugo Chavez's nationalization drive.

The May Day takeover came exactly a year after Bolivian President Evo Morales, a leftist ally of Chavez, startled investors by ordering troops to seize his country's gas fields, accelerating Latin America's struggle to reclaim resources.

"The importance of this is that we are taking back control of the Orinoco Belt which the president rightly calls the world's biggest crude reserve," said Marco Ojeda, an oil union leader before a planned rally to mark the transfer.

The four projects are valued at more than $30 billion and can convert about 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) of heavy, tarry crude into valuable synthetic oil.

U.S. companies ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Britain's BP, Norway's Statoil and France's Total agreed to obey a decree to transfer operational control on Tuesday, although the OPEC nation complained ConocoPhillips was somewhat resistant.

In Puerto Piritu, near the facilities that refine Orinoco crude, workers prepared early on Tuesday to celebrate the takeovers, displaying Venezuelan red, blue and yellow flags and daubing a wall with Chavez's slogan: "Homeland, Socialism or Death."

Posted by Fred 2007-05-02 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11135 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I'm sure there are a lot of unemployed Baathist ~~hacks~~ techies who ran an oil field or two who are available to show you how to run them ~~into the ground~~.

Posted by Procopius2k 2007-05-02 09:11|| 2007-05-02 09:11|| Front Page Top

#2 The asshole is already setting the stage to justify the coming decline in production. In his speech yesterday, he said that PDVSA would not be able to produce those field on its own because the multinationals damaged the wells. How? They did not use steam to get the oil out.
The saddest part is that the majority of the people there would believe it.

Posted by TMH 2007-05-02 10:01|| 2007-05-02 10:01|| Front Page Top

#3 The article does not mention that the asshole started and close his speech with his now commonly used "DOWN WITH THE AMERICAN EMPIRE" scream.

Posted by TMH 2007-05-02 10:11|| 2007-05-02 10:11|| Front Page Top

#4 Chavez, the South American Mugabe.

Posted by RWV 2007-05-02 14:36|| 2007-05-02 14:36|| Front Page Top

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