Post by RPankn on Feb 2, 2005 1:56:52 GMT -5
By SIMON ROMERO
Published: February 2, 2005
HOUSTON, Feb. 1 - President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela signaled on Tuesday that his government was interested in selling its American oil-refining operations, in the latest illustration of an energy strategy that has raised doubt whether Venezuela would continue as a reliable source of oil for the United States.
Mr. Chávez, speaking on Tuesday during a visit to Argentina, said the government-controlled oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, was looking to sell as many as eight refineries in the United States. They are owned entirely or in part by Citgo, which is based in Houston and is controlled by Petróleos de Venezuela, and they have long been used to process crude oil from Venezuela.
Mr. Chávez's comments came after moves in recent weeks by Petróleos de Venezuela that have generated tension in energy markets. Venezuela reached an agreement over the weekend to have a team of Iranian advisers train its technicians on how to increase oil exports to China and other Asian markets.
"We are subsidizing Mr. Bush," Mr. Chávez said in Buenos Aires in reference to Citgo's operations in the United States and Venezuela's tense relationship with Washington, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Venezuela has also negotiated with Chinese energy companies to increase their exploration activities in Venezuela and is in talks with Panamanian officials on establishing a pipeline across Panama that could send oil to tankers bound for China.
Mr. Chávez's ambitions to sell more oil to China are not likely to immediately divert shipments from the United States, but his comments suggest a readiness to test already strained relations with the Bush administration. Venezuela has long benefited from geographic proximity to the United States. But now, high oil prices have given Mr. Chávez's government the financial power to start looking elsewhere.
"All he'll be doing is hurting Venezuela," Bill Greehey, the chief executive of the Valero Energy Corporation, a refinery operator in San Antonio. [Uh, no Chavez won't; he's giving the one-finger salute to Bush and the neoliberal trash occupying Washington] Mr. Greehey, who said his company would be interested in buying Citgo's assets, said it would be easy to refit them to process crude from countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Kuwait. Venezuela currently accounts for about 15 percent of American oil imports.
www.nytimes.com/2005/02/02/business/worldbusiness/02citgo.html?oref=login&oref=login
Published: February 2, 2005
HOUSTON, Feb. 1 - President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela signaled on Tuesday that his government was interested in selling its American oil-refining operations, in the latest illustration of an energy strategy that has raised doubt whether Venezuela would continue as a reliable source of oil for the United States.
Mr. Chávez, speaking on Tuesday during a visit to Argentina, said the government-controlled oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, was looking to sell as many as eight refineries in the United States. They are owned entirely or in part by Citgo, which is based in Houston and is controlled by Petróleos de Venezuela, and they have long been used to process crude oil from Venezuela.
Mr. Chávez's comments came after moves in recent weeks by Petróleos de Venezuela that have generated tension in energy markets. Venezuela reached an agreement over the weekend to have a team of Iranian advisers train its technicians on how to increase oil exports to China and other Asian markets.
"We are subsidizing Mr. Bush," Mr. Chávez said in Buenos Aires in reference to Citgo's operations in the United States and Venezuela's tense relationship with Washington, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Venezuela has also negotiated with Chinese energy companies to increase their exploration activities in Venezuela and is in talks with Panamanian officials on establishing a pipeline across Panama that could send oil to tankers bound for China.
Mr. Chávez's ambitions to sell more oil to China are not likely to immediately divert shipments from the United States, but his comments suggest a readiness to test already strained relations with the Bush administration. Venezuela has long benefited from geographic proximity to the United States. But now, high oil prices have given Mr. Chávez's government the financial power to start looking elsewhere.
"All he'll be doing is hurting Venezuela," Bill Greehey, the chief executive of the Valero Energy Corporation, a refinery operator in San Antonio. [Uh, no Chavez won't; he's giving the one-finger salute to Bush and the neoliberal trash occupying Washington] Mr. Greehey, who said his company would be interested in buying Citgo's assets, said it would be easy to refit them to process crude from countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Kuwait. Venezuela currently accounts for about 15 percent of American oil imports.
www.nytimes.com/2005/02/02/business/worldbusiness/02citgo.html?oref=login&oref=login