Venezuela's state oil company said Tuesday it has stopped selling crude to Exxon Mobil and has suspended commercial relations with the U.S.-based oil company.
State-run Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, said in a statement that it "has paralyzed sales of crude to Exxon Mobil." It said the decision was made "as an act of reciprocity" for the company's "judicial-economic harassment."
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The criminal corporations who have fought court orders for them to pay for their destructive behavior, Exxon for the great spill from its Valdez, GE for the polluting of the Hudson and Housitonic (probably spelled wrong) rivers, can go to Hell. It's hard to feel sorry for them. As for Venezuela, it's colonialism that has fostered the poverty that has been yanking (get it?) the people for hundreds of years, from Spain to the US. Do you think any leader of any form of government can undo that in ten years? If you do, pass the pipe this way.
Screw Mobil-Exxon and there 39B profit. I'm sure that Chavez will find another company in the US to sell his oil to. Not to worry.
Well I guess Chavez figures if Bush can be a ruthless prick to the rest of the world, he can be one to the US. And nothing gets G W. Bush's attention as much as oil.
This could be the way troops get to leave Iraq though. Im sure the Decider is trying to find a way to invade and conquer Venezuela right now
Its not hating your country to dislike people who are destroying it. Like the Rethugs , and now many of the political demorats.
Hugo Chavez is a Dope and so is every Socialist that condones his Moronic Behavior.
If all of you America Hating Socialists hate it so much here in the Good Ole USA, why don't you sell all of your belongings and move to Venezula and throw all of your pesos into the Communal Pot there and live out the rest of your Miserable Lives there in Hugo's Utopia?
Act Now, and we will even provide the Cattle Cars to the Border for you!!!
Socialism is being forced to sell your oil to the USA, Capatilism is the ability to tell the right-wing in America to go fuck themselves.
I guess Chaves is a capitalist!
Would those be the same cattle cars that your grandfather and father use to transport Jews to Bergen-Belsen?
Probably so. And the cheap bastard didn't even bother to clean them either.
This is such a joke for Chavez enthusiasts. Meanwhile, Venezuela's debt rises and the economy and nation is in chaos. Chavez enthusiasts don't really care about Venezuelans who are suffering scarcity, violence, and shame as this clown gets them further into debt, allows flagrant corruption, and gets the country involved with narco-guerrilla in Colombia.
Meanwhile, he spends billions in propaganda. Just the tab for his promoting of his failed referendum, which should not have been subsidized by the Venezuelan people, and the money he's giving to the FARC, and to other nations could be spent in Venezuela to create jobs.
Instead, US Chavez enthusiasts believe that petty handouts by the great leader are good enough for those third world people they so look down on. Meanwhile, the finest oil engineers in the world, the finest musicians, doctors, and other professionals, product of decades of investment in education, flee the disaster in droves while vain academics and Guevarra t-shirt wearing fools applaud here in the States. God forbid they had to face the same predicament.
Enjoy passing the popcorn at Venezuela's expense.
Sure gets your goat doesn't he? Loving every minute!
Yes, he does, but that's because it's my country. Keep on having fun at our expense.
Is Venezuela's debt rising as fast as the U.S.? Is their economy going south faster than our? Is their economy failing because of internal or external forces? Will they be invading other nations to give certain corporations a financial boost at the expense of the local taxpayers? You may answer as many as you wish.
This is not about the US. Corruption is an internal force. So is illegal spending billions on propaganda. Imagine is your governement spent billions of your tax revenue in promoting its party's agenda with Soviet styled billboards, Che Guevarra t-shirts at the school you send your kids to, when you cannot get milk to feed them. Venezuelan needs good relation with her neighbors, commerce, and jobs. That is what will get us ahead, and this so-called revolution means more poverty to all, except the new party apparatchiks.
In any case, external or internal, Venezuelans are awakening to the fact that they are not better off with Chavez, that his meager hand-outs and second-rate Cuban doctors are below what we aspire, and the last referendum proves this. I know you think it is good enough for us from the comfort of your life in the States, but then, the left can be condescending too.
Yeah they were doing so great before Chavez; I suppose that's why he rose to power the way he has.
Venezuela has had many problems, but all her previous governments were quite progressive. Carlos Andres Perez did make the mistake in following the IMF program in the early nineties, but even C.A.P. was a big populist leader. We've never had a rightwing government. Yes, they were corrupt, but Chavez's ministers preach socialism and wear Louis Vitton ties and Gucci shoes, and trample traffic in Caracas with their hummers, all paid for with the nation's wealth.
Understand that Venezuela is a rich nation. Chavez, however, got really lucky with sky-rocketing oil prices after he took over. Oil prices had been low during the eighties and nineties. There is a lot of poverty, but it is not due only to stereotyped oppression. Venezuela was a magnate for immigration from all over Latin America and the world and just couldn't accomodate everyone, especially if they arrived dirt-poor and uneducated from Colombia or the Dominican Republic. People settled in shacks around Caracas and other cities. These shanty towns emerged during the most properous periods in our economy. There are complex historical events at play, and there is tremendous ignorance of these factors at play when people criticise Venezuela's pre-Chavez governments.
magnet not magnate
How are the Venezuelans doing now? Are they all rich? Are they all living in mansions? Are they all well fed? Are they all educated? Crime free?
.....viva Hugo Chavez!! Love the way you "saw" the Decider's idiotic rhetoric, and upped the ante......now maybe the asshole [Dumbya] will talk to you...........if not, c'est la vie, you're the one with the oil, right???!!
P.S. Never fear, the days of Obama are near!!!
It's easy to see why this coca-chewing communist is a darling of the far left.
Whereas Bush prefers to snort! Any more bullshit you want to share?
And it's easy to see why the far right worships the coke head in the oval office. Or is it because of his pedophilia tendencies?
YEA! And maybe Obama will be an idiot like Chavez and nationalize (i.e. steal, take without compensation) the assets of other countries who have invested in the US. Just claim them as our own. THAT should fix all of the broken relationships that Bush has ruined with other countries around the world!
Hey, why we're at it, why doesn't the government go ahead and take over all of the private property in the US and redistribute fairly.
I love the ideas on this board. Some realy thinkers here. If Obama loves these ideas then he is light years scarier than Bush ever was. Let's hope folks here represent the fringe of reactionary thinking.
As if a fucking right-wing American has any right to talk about stealing shit. Fucking hypocracy!
Chavez is a reaction to the pillaging (stealing; taking without compensation, if you will) of the Venezuelan economy.
If you don't like ideas generated beyond the realm of Fox News then don't come here.
Hi,
Why are American companies still doing business with Pres Chavez?
Does it have anything to do with the almighty dollar??
What do U think?
Except for the oil companies, American companies have largely pulled out of Venezuela. Investment by Spain and others has taken over.
Its been that way for years.
Throughout all of Latin America US corporations/govt has been marginalized and no longer enjoys its exclusive dominance and manipulation of latin American markets that often de-stabilized local economies and unleashed political revolutions .
the less the US corporations are involved the better for the people of those nations.
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa is now suing Chevron for its environmental practices and dumping of toxic waste in the Amazon in Ecuador ....this is how US corporations have treated the "third world" and now that is turning around.
For all the US rhetoric about ostracizing Chavez (on what grounds have they frozen his assets?) the populist revolution has taken hold throughout all of latin america with their new progressive leaders: ecuador, bolivia, mejico, chile, argentina, brazil,venezuela, nicaragua...unstoppable.
well done Hugo . . .
This is a domestic quarrel since both are members of OPEC.
China and Russia will give him whatever help he needs, including cash if necessary. This is a non-issue except maybe for Exxon who will eventually have to raise their prices to compensate as we consumers speed on by to the next station with lower gas prices.
Exxon will just have to continue to limp along without Hugo's crude oil or Ernestine's dinero.
I haven't (knowingly) purchased an Exxon product since the Valdez incident.
I avoid them when possible as well. The Valdez was and still is a nasty piece of business.
Good point Ernestine.
I'm sure you know that they have stalled the court proceedings for so long that they still have not paid damages. There are kids who will vote in this election who weren't even born when that crime occurred.
Exxon made $40 billion last year thanks to record oil prices, but with no regard for record highs of dead US soldiers in Iraq.....and a few million (but really, who's counting?) Iraqi refugees.
I like seeing Chavez (who is not perfect) stand up to Exxon and speak the truth.
Fuck Exxon!
Ernestine.. sure you do. See when gas stations buy oil in the open market it is very likely oil that has been refined from crude by Exxon.
What's your point? Because Exxon made a profit they are supposed to compensate families of dead soldiers? Or Exxon is responsible for the dead soldiers? Or if they gave up their profit, somehow all of the families of the dead soldiers would feel better? Or, the soldiers wouldn't even be dead?
Understandable not to like Exxon for Valdez, but I can't follow the logic of your post any further than that.
Let him control all of the oil himself. He's already wasting the money he's getting from it. Keep kicking out the oil companies, but who's going to run the operations, and where will he get new equipment, and who will install it? He will absolutely devastate Venezuela's capacity to produce oil if he keeps behaving like this. He's going to ruin that country's future, make ours and everyone else's energy that much more expensive, and Obama thinks this deserves an invitation to D.C. for a klatch. Please. You want change in Washington? How about electing people based on competence and experience and not on their ability to move an applause meter.
Thank you for reminding us that only the US has the information about running oil production.
maybe you've missed the boat there bub.
It is because we are the only country truly loved by jeezus.
Read the Harper's article entitled "Iraq's Black Box"; then you'll understand what a nightmare a dictatorial regime can be on the infrastructure of a country wholly dependent upon petroleum output. Venezuela is no different. Already they are a net-importer of gasoline and other refined products, just like Iran, just like Iraq was under Saddam. I'm not a cheerleader for big oil at all, but Chavez is equally as bad. His actions stand inapposite to everything Simon Bolivar fought against, yet he invokes the name consistently. The consolidation of power, the crushing of opposition, the limitation of speech rights, these are to be rewarded? Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both don't like this guy. For Exxon, it's only the shareholders who get hurt, but for Venezuela, its poor and infirm will bear the cost of his stupidity. And when oil recedes back to 35-40 dollars a barrel, that will be a bloody cost indeed. Caracas is already the murder capital of the world.
PDVSA still sells to Total, BP, Chevron, and StatoilHydro, and they still own CITGO, which has refining capabilities, so it's not like their oil won't still make it to the U.S. market. More problematic is that Venezuela and Exxon jointly own a major refinery in Louisiana, so we'll have to see how that plays out.
China is building refineries capable of processing Venezuela's heavy crude, and Brazil is building long-range tankers to transport it. Currently, Venezuela's tanker fleet is designed only for short-range travel across the Gulf of Mexico, but that's changing.
Doc, you are correct. And for all the right wing morons(adc) and others, we need their oil more than they need our business. Would YOU die fighting for it?
Now about China and India. 2 billion+ people moving into the 21st century, and now they want to ditch their bikes and buy cars, which run on petroleum products. How did they move up in the world? Republican/corpocrat/right wing owned companies moving there for cheap labor(and screwing you). You call Chavez a Commie but all your leaders are doing business with Chinese and fascist Saudis(holding hands in fact). A little secret for you all, most American companies don't care much about the US market(Americans are tapped out). They are looking at emerging markets. Example, US auto industry has invested billions in China, India and eastern Europe, while they close US plants and lay off Americans or offer buyouts.
This is the latest example of how so many Americans are willing to bite of their nose to spite their face. Even when they are clearly supporting people and initiatives that are not in their best interests, they close their eyes and drink the kool-aid.
To think I grew up believing I lived in the greatest country in the world. My awakening came a long time ago, but the vastness of the stupidity and arrogance is mind-boggling still.
uhhh...correct me if i'm wrong, but i believe that venezuela's crude quality is such that only u.s. refineries can handle it with any kind of efficiency.
chavez is going to get schooled in the full oil production cycle here.
Hugo Chavez vs Exxon Mobile? That's kind of like Alien vs Predator.
CNNMoney | February 13, 2008 02:01 AM