Comments on: Chavez accelerates the pace of destruction of Venezuela, taking over oil service companies.

By: concerned

concerned — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:14:28 +0000

China should have the inside track on any venture due to debt owed to them and their willingness to invest. I would think that upon completion of current pipline projects with Russia, the attraction for the Venezuelan crude would diminish due to the high risk and transportation costs. The relationship appears good now, but if PDVSA’s past partners are an indicator, the honeymoon won’t last.

Also, thanks for the link Roger…looks like a good source of info.

By: Roger

Roger — Wed, 13 May 2009 01:10:41 +0000

A few notes. Online unless somebody knows better the best source of venezuelan oilpatch information is http://www.rigzone.com/news/archive_search.asp?keyword=venezuela . When I was there I went to some sort of Venezuelan Petroleum Association comference at El Morichal Hotel in Maturin. I assume that some of these groups still operate and know what the hell is going down. I know some of you reading this site do! This is your chance to be your childhood hero, Zorro! Si?

By: Alek Boyd

Alek Boyd — Wed, 13 May 2009 00:56:35 +0000

I heard that the guisito to grant Bloque Carabobo to the Chinese has already been cooked.

By: Gringo

Gringo — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:21:25 +0000

Concerned:
Throw in the Chinese bailout loans for future oil deliveries and Venezuela’s future is mortgaged beyond recovery.

To his and Venezuela’s chagrin, Chavez will find out that the Chinese take care of their own interests much better than do the Imperialist Yanquis.

By: concerned

concerned — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:49:34 +0000

There will be no new contracts or joint venture projects with PDVSA controlling majority ownership and operation. The major oil companies that still have a foot in the door were banking on the fact that Chavez would be gone by 2013. After February, all realized that Chavez will be in power for life…however long that may be. No one thought he would go this radical or to this extent. PDVSA is a failed company with enormous debt with no way of repaying anyone it owes. Throw in the Chinese bailout loans for future oil deliveries and Venezuela’s future is mortgaged beyond recovery. PDVSA’s only hope for a new venture was to find someone foolish enough to foot their percentage of investment in exchange for percentages of ownership. With PDVSA controlling construction and operation, any new venture is a failure before it starts. Any percentage of zero production equates to zero.

If Venezuela would only realize that without Chavez and his insane revolution, Venezuela can be a major producer and the gains can benefit everyone. The good thing is that the oil reserves are still there for the future and good of Venezuela. It’s a good thing it is beyond Chavez’s means to extract or he would leave nothing but an empty void.

By: moctavio

moctavio — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:38:23 +0000

I am traveling but saw some names this morning in either unionradio or globovision

By: gabrield

gabrield — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:49:54 +0000

Miguel, do you know where I could find the names of these companies? We keep hearing that they are 60 oil service co.s but no one knows their identities.

Avila, Sincor bank lenders are kicking themselves. They hammered out a deal with Chavez and the terms have already been violated (i.e. they did not receive an amortization payment they had agreed to under the new terms of the deal). I think people learn their lessons.

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:35:05 +0000

My opinion is things are worse in PDVSA than anyone could ever imagine and the country is more financially strapped that anyone could likewise imagine.

Chavez is thinking he will gain much……he will not pay the back pay to the companies, he will have more employees at the mercy of his benevolence, he thinks he can keep these companies running, rather than them shutting down because they can’t pay their employees or want to leave the country but the truth of the matter is he’s trying to cover the sun with a finger.

And for years we’ve all been asking “how much longer can this go on?” Yet it keeps going and going and going.

By: MiguelE

MiguelE — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:15:28 +0000

Miguel, in my opinion this drastic measure was not Chavez taking the easy route, it was an emergency measure.

I think the most relevant angle of this story is that if Chavez is willing to pay the political price (domestically and internationally) of this heavy-handed decision, it must only mean that things in PDVSA are much worse than we all think. He’s a calculating person, and I would bet that this decision was taken despite the potentially significant political cost, mainly because these are quite desperate times in PDVSA and they need these services to try to stop the drop in production.

Maybe this shows that things are even worse than we can imagine in PDVSA, and he’s showing his desperation.

By: Gringo

Gringo — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:03:58 +0000

Off topic. Stanford of the failed bank may have been a drug informant.

http://www.businessinsider.com/allen-stanford-drug-informant-2009-5

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8029494.stm