Venezuela, China to join on oil drills

[cal04]

Venezuela plans to enter into a joint venture with China to manufacture oil drills, instead of buying them from U.S. companies, President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday.

Chavez said during a speech in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas that China will "help us put together a factory to build oil drills."

He did not specify how many drills Venezuela plans to buy or give a launch date for the venture, which will be jointly financed by Venezuelan and Chinese capital.

The world's fifth-largest oil exporter, Venezuela sells most of its oil to the United States, but Chavez has sought to reduce that dependency as relations between the two nations soured in recent years.

http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=5717801&subject=economic&action=article

[HooptieWagon]

1. Several months ago

there was a small newspaper article buried in the back that Venezuela had ordered several large tankers from a shipyard in Brazil (IIRC). This caught my attention, since the oil Venezuela ships to the US is via barges, the distance is so short tankers aren't needed. I immediately thought of China as the new trading partner that necessitated the tankers. At least the increase in oil prices will make the oil-sands in Canada commercially viable - and * hasn't pissed off Canada... yet.

[BrotherBuzz]

4. Venezuela ordered those tankers from China

PDVSA announced plans to nearly double its existing oil tanker fleet by purchasing 18 oil tankers from China for $1.3 billion, a move that would facilitate the 24,140 kilometer (15,000 miles) voyage to China. PDVSA and CNPC also discussed a joint venture for the marketing, transport and sale of energy products in Asia.

China has an insatiable appetite for oil, and with well brokered deals like the tankers the the drilling technology , they are well on their way to cementing lasting relationships that benefit both countries. To bad American energy boys are sleeping at the wheel. You snooze, you lose. :shrug:

[toopers]

2. This could get interesting . . .

what happens if Cuba invites China to drill for oil off of the Cuban coast?

[cliss]

6. Your intuition -

is right. That's exactly what's going to happen. There was an article about this a few months ago....wish I had the link. It's somewhere in the LBN.

China has made some agreements to co-operate with Cuba in oil drilling. I guess the US was beyond furious because it was in Cuban waters....the US could do nothing.

I joked that China would cruise by Florida, with its oil tankers full. They would have a banner hanging on the side of the ship that said, "Hey Jeb, Look what we've got!!!"

[ronnie624]

7. I remember the article you refer to.

Here is a more recent one:

At a time of rising soaring gasoline prices caused partly by a lack of supply, legislators are fuming that Cuba is opening up its continental shelf for oil and gas exploration while most of the U.S. continental shelf outside the Gulf of Mexico, which extends 200 miles from shore, has been off limits for drilling since the early 1980s, the New York Times reported

Adding insult to injury, the Times said U.S. firms were invited to bid on the Cuban contracts, but were barred by the U.S. government due to the country's longstanding economic embargo of communist Cuba.

"Red China should not be left to drill for oil within spitting distance of our shores without competition from U.S. industries," Sen. Larry Craig, Republican of Idaho, told the Times.

Firms from Canada and Spain will also drill off the Cuban coast, the article said.


<http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/09/news/economy/oil_cuba/?cnn=yes>

[Endangered Specie]

3. Uniting the World are we?

[Stargazer99]

5. Thank every Bush supporter

for the oil mess we are going to get in.

[Acadia Blue]

8. Yes. Bush's policy is insane. He will sink this country to give his oil

buddies some extra money. He ignores those who should be his allies.

[leesa]

9. China just sits back and smiles. They haven't existed this long without

learning something.
The communists are beating the capitalists at their own game.

[w4rma]

10. The Repug leadership *could* have negotiated a deal with Venezuela.

Instead they have taken a hard line against them.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Interesting news:Venezuelans Buy Cars as Chavez Pumps Oil Dollars Into Eco

Venezuelans Buy Cars as Chavez Pumps Oil Dollars Into Economy

July 18 (Bloomberg) -- Ana Maria Gomez, a 38-year-old Toyota Motor Corp. saleswoman in Caracas, no longer finds it challenging to sell new cars because demand is so strong.

The tougher chore is to calm down customers after they're told of a nine-month wait for delivery, she said.

``People think I have an easy job,'' said Gomez, who has worked at Toyoca Motors CA, a Toyota dealership in the Venezuelan capital, for 10 years. ``But it's not fun when people get mad or have long faces.''

Venezuelans are flush with cash generated by a doubling in the price of oil, the country's biggest export, in the past three years. They're using some of that money to buy a record number of cars, both imports and locally made. Some are purchasing vehicles as investments, not just for transportation.
(snip/...)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=acotTPH6EFOE&refer=news

[gula]

12. While our PM is busy trying to make out with your headhoncho

most people I know here in Québec are totally p*d off with both of them. The latest killings in the ME don't help.

Also, the tar sands use tons of water and cause a great deal of pollution. So while addressing one "problem" it actually creates a much more serious one.