Does anyone take Chavez seriously?

WickedLou9 · 02-11-2008, 07:41 AM

Chavez Threatens to Halt Oil Sales to US: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Oh no, they will cut off our oil!!

They supply about 10% of out oil. Thats not insignificant... but on the flip side... we are their number 1 client. If they stopped selling oil to us, thier country would fall into poverty within a month. Everyone knows it so they just ignore Chavez. I wonder if his own people realize what an ass clown they have elected.

David Octavius · 02-11-2008, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

Chavez Threatens to Halt Oil Sales to US: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Oh no, they will cut off our oil!!

They supply about 10% of out oil. Thats not insignificant... but on the flip side... we are their number 1 client. If they stopped selling oil to us, thier country would fall into poverty within a month. Everyone knows it so they just ignore Chavez. I wonder if his own people realize what an ass clown they have elected.

Grand standing to his people - bashing American is politically popular overseas.

For some reason we have a reputation of a bully that only cares about our own interests and don't care about anyone else, can't imagine where they would get that idea from?

Phantom · 02-11-2008, 12:08 PM

Let him stop sending us oil, it will only be a temporary blip.

As long as he's still selling oil on the world market, the supply (& price) will remain the same, we'll just be getting our oil from somewhere else.

Bottom line, Chavez screwed around a little too much and it's finally coming to bite him in the ass.

bheld · 02-11-2008, 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by Phantom

Let him stop sending us oil, it will only be a temporary blip.

As long as he's still selling oil on the world market, the supply (& price) will remain the same, we'll just be getting our oil from somewhere else.

Bottom line, Chavez screwed around a little too much and it's finally coming to bite him in the ass.

Right, because all the oil can be magically transported overnight across the world for free in magical libertarian fairy world.

There's no way that in 2008 anybody sitting on top of huge oil reserves will make any marketing decision that "bites him in the ass." As if we're the only potential buyer.

Phantom · 02-11-2008, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by bheld

Right, because all the oil can be magically transported overnight across the world for free in magical libertarian fairy world.

There's no way that in 2008 anybody sitting on top of huge oil reserves will make any marketing decision that "bites him in the ass." As if we're the only potential buyer.

Straw man = 0
You = 1

congrats.

WickedLou9 · 02-11-2008, 12:52 PM

Originally Posted by Phantom

Straw man = 0
You = 1

congrats.

He's sort of right. If Chavez doesn't sell the oil to us, he won't sell it. We import a SHIT TON of oil from them. It's too much just to be absorbed by the market. He has based his government on the premise that he has tons of money coming in from oil revenue, after all the state seized control of the oil industry. So if they suddenly don't have that money coming in, all of his socialist programs would grind to a halt and the people would be very angry. It's a totally idle threat. He would be hurting himself far more than he would hurt us.

Phantom · 02-11-2008, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

He's sort of right. If Chavez doesn't sell the oil to us, he won't sell it. We import a SHIT TON of oil from them. It's too much just to be absorbed by the market. He has based his government on the premise that he has tons of money coming in from oil revenue, after all the state seized control of the oil industry. So if they suddenly don't have that money coming in, all of his socialist programs would grind to a halt and the people would be very angry. It's a totally idle threat. He would be hurting himself far more than he would hurt us.

I don't think he threatened to not sell oil. That would just be silly since his existence depends on oil revenue. He's just threatening to not sell oil to the US, but sell that oil to someone else.

Since the market supply for oil will remain the same, the price shouldn't be affected either. The price in the US might rise temporarily until we start making up for our deficit by re-routing the oil that would go to the places Chavez would start selling his oil.

thomez · 02-11-2008, 01:35 PM

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

He's sort of right. If Chavez doesn't sell the oil to us, he won't sell it. We import a SHIT TON of oil from them. It's too much just to be absorbed by the market. He has based his government on the premise that he has tons of money coming in from oil revenue, after all the state seized control of the oil industry. So if they suddenly don't have that money coming in, all of his socialist programs would grind to a halt and the people would be very angry. It's a totally idle threat. He would be hurting himself far more than he would hurt us.

Dude, that is not how global oil markets work AT ALL.

WickedLou9 · 02-11-2008, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by thomez

Dude, that is not how global oil markets work AT ALL.

So suddenly someone will pick up all that slack? We import 10% of our oil from them. We are the biggest consumer of crude oil in the world, so 10% is a significant amount. I don't think he could find another customer willing to pick up that sort of volume. If he did, he would have to offer some sort deal meaning less money for him.

bheld · 02-11-2008, 02:40 PM

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

So suddenly someone will pick up all that slack? We import 10% of our oil from them. We are the biggest consumer of crude oil in the world, so 10% is a significant amount. I don't think he could find another customer willing to pick up that sort of volume. If he did, he would have to offer some sort deal meaning less money for him.

China is running all over the world securing oil contracts. I don't think they'd have any problem absorbing all that oil.

WickedLou9 · 02-11-2008, 02:50 PM

Originally Posted by bheld

China is running all over the world securing oil contracts. I don't think they'd have any problem absorbing all that oil.

It's ALOT of oil. It's actually 14% of our total supply. That's alot even for China. It just woudn't work. You can't just take that sort of supply and send it somewhere else without disrupting the global oil market. China doesn't need that much extra oil. If China did buy it, they would probably just buy it at a discount and then turn around and sell it to us.

7960 · 02-11-2008, 02:52 PM

It's win/win for him.

He gets to rant and rave about the US and tell his people he threatened us and we backed down. And how do his people know we backed down? Well, he didn't stop selling to us so we must have backed down!!

What's he got to lose? We're not going to stop buying from him so the threats can't do him any harm.

Donkey® · 02-11-2008, 03:06 PM

No different than Bush grandstanding on Iran. They both look equally stupid.

RMNIXON · 02-11-2008, 07:45 PM

Actually Iran has a long history of playing up the United States "Boogey Man" card just as Castro and Chavez have done.

Only in their case they just might have something to worry about?

motivez · 02-13-2008, 05:05 PM

Looks like it was a little more than talk:

Venezuela's State Oil Company Halts Oil Sales to Exxon Mobil

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela's state oil company said Tuesday that it has stopped selling crude to Exxon Mobil Corp. in response to the U.S. oil company's drive to use the courts to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.

Exxon Mobil is locked in a dispute over the nationalization of its oil ventures in Venezuela that has led President Hugo Chavez to threaten to cut off all Venezuelan oil supplies to the United States. Venezuela is the United States' fourth largest oil supplier.

Tuesday's announcement by state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, was limited to Exxon Mobil, which PDVSA accused of "judicial-economic harassment" for its efforts in U.S. and European courts.

PDVSA said it "has paralyzed sales of crude to Exxon Mobil" and suspended commercial relations with the Irving, Texas-based company.

"The legal actions carried out by the U.S. transnational are unnecessary ... and hostile," PDVSA said in the statement. It said it will honor any existing contracts it has with Exxon Mobil for joint investments abroad, but reserved the right to terminate them if permitted by the terms of the contracts.

It was unclear how much oil PDVSA supplies to Exxon Mobil, the world's biggest publicly traded oil company. Both Chavez and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez previously said the company is no longer welcome to do business in Venezuela.

Venezuela's decision leaves up in the air the situation of a refinery in Chalmette, La. -- a joint venture supplied by Venezuelan oil in which PDVSA and Exxon Mobil are equal partners.

Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Margaret Ross declined to comment on the move by Venezuela but added that "it is our long-standing practice to take appropriate steps to meet our customers' needs."

Exxon Mobil is challenging the Chavez government's nationalization of one of four heavy oil projects in the Orinoco River basin, one of the world's richest oil deposits.

A British court issued an injunction last month temporarily freezing up to $12 billion of PDVSA's assets. Exxon Mobil also has secured an "order of attachment" from U.S. District Court in Manhattan on about $300 million in cash held by PDVSA. A hearing to confirm the order is scheduled for Wednesday.

Other oil companies including Chevron Corp., France's Total, Britain's BP PLC and Norway's StatoilHydro ASA have negotiated deals with Venezuela to continue as minority partners in the nationalized projects. ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil balked at the government's tougher terms and have been in compensation talks with PDVSA.

Earlier Tuesday at an energy conference in Houston, Exxon Mobil senior vice president Mark Albers declined comment on any court proceedings with Venezuela, though he said the company is eager to negotiate fair compensation for its assets.

Exxon Mobil is taking the dispute to international arbitration, to which Venezuela has agreed. Its legal actions essentially seek to corral Venezuelan assets ahead of any decision by the arbitration panel.

Venezuela's announcement came after Ramirez, the oil minister and PDVSA president, reiterated in a newspaper interview Tuesday that Venezuela is ready to cut off oil supplies to the United States if pressed into an "economic war."

"If they want this conflict to escalate, it's going to escalate. We have a way to make this conflict escalate," Ramirez was quoted as saying.

The White House on Tuesday declined to comment on Venezuela's threat. "When there's a litigation that's ongoing, different parties will say anything to try to win over on an argument," said White House press secretary Dana Perino.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan state television has begun airing short anti-Exxon segments, with a message appearing on the screen in red text reading: "Exxon Mobil turns oil into blood."

The U.S. remains the No. 1 buyer of Venezuelan oil, and Chavez relies largely on U.S. oil money to stimulate his economy and bankroll social programs that have traditionally boosted his popularity.

Some analysts say it would make little sense for Chavez to follow through on his broader threats to cut off oil sales to the U.S. because Venezuela owns refineries in the United States that are customized to handle the South American country's heavy crude.

Ramirez said Venezuela is selling the U.S. a daily average of 1.5 million barrels of crude and other products derived from oil.

Venezuela Halts Oil Sales to Exxon Mobil: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Phantom · 02-13-2008, 05:14 PM

Exxon, with who knows how many billions of dollars in profits last year, might be the winner if loses a little in the short term to destabilize Chavez.

This battle is getting interesting though, that's for sure.

7960 · 02-13-2008, 05:42 PM

Venezuela's state oil company said Tuesday that it has stopped selling crude to Exxon Mobil Corp. in response to the U.S. oil company's drive to use the courts to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.

Those "billions of dollars of venezuelan assets" are machinery that exxon brought there to drill, store, and refine oil. One day chavez said "MINE!" and took it and exxon went to court to get it back so he stopped selling to them because they're trying to seize venzuelan assets.........that he stole from exxon!

He'll be dead in 3 years.

WickedLou9 · 02-13-2008, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by 7960

Those "billions of dollars of venezuelan assets" are machinery that exxon brought there to drill, store, and refine oil. One day chavez said "MINE!" and took it and exxon went to court to get it back so he stopped selling to them because they're trying to seize venzuelan assets.........that he stole from exxon!

He'll be dead in 3 years.

Chavez is batshit insane.

So he stopped selling to Exxon.. I guess that doesn't stop any of the other US oil companies from picking up the slack.. or, I dunno, Citgo maybe... which sells oil in the US. Citgo the state owned venezualan oil company...

We are going to stop selling oil to the US!!! RAAHRLKELELE

Oh.. but when I said the US I didn't really mean the WHOLE US. And when I say not the whole US I really mean just one company. Citgo? Oh yes we will still sell oil through Citgo, the company that we own and use to sell oil to the US.
Hey, evil imperialist dollars are better than no dollars Am I Rite?

bheld · 02-13-2008, 06:19 PM

Originally Posted by Phantom

Exxon, with who knows how many billions of dollars in profits last year, might be the winner if loses a little in the short term to destabilize Chavez.

This battle is getting interesting though, that's for sure.

You think the rest of the world is going to let that happen? Dream on. We're the bad guys in the public eye on this one unfortunately.