WP: Venezuela to Increase Oil Sales to China

[Say_What]

<clips>

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela plans to increase oil its sales to China by 50,000 barrels a day by the end of the year, the country's oil minister said.

Venezuela's state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, will increase sales to China to 200,000 barrels a day from the current 150,000 barrels per day, Rafael Ramirez said Tuesday. He said the shipments include crude and other products, such as fuel oil.

President Hugo Chavez and other officials had previously said they hoped Venezuela would be exporting 300,000 barrels a day to China by the end of the year.

Though the United States remains the No. 1 buyer of Venezuelan crude, Chavez's government has sought to sell increasing amounts to a variety of other countries in recent years. As recently as 2004, the South American country exported only 12,300 barrels a day to China.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/16/AR2006081600356.html


Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (R) kisses the hand of Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Consuelo Araujo after a meeting in the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas August 15, 2006. REUTERS/Francesco Spotorno (VENEZUELA) Reuters - Aug 15 4:17 PM

[ixion]

1. Another Big Win for BushCo

:sarcasm:

[damntexdem]

2. How many barrels does Venezuela sell to the U.S.?

And how many of them go through CITGO?

[Say_What]

3. 1.5 million b/p/d

According to a financial times article in June.

...Venezuela, the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter, ships 1.5m barrels per day of oil to the US, accounting for about 11 per cent of US energy imports. However, Bernardo Alvarez, Venezuela’s ambassador to the US, insisted on Monday that while the Bush administration indeed maintained a “hostile” stance towards the Chávez government, Caracas wanted to keep supplying oil.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/1a1954d6-20bd-11db-8b3e-0000779e2340.html


According to an 2005 article from Bloomberg:

On edit: I read recently that the sale of CITGO has been called off.

...Citgo Petroleum Corp., the U.S. fuel-making unit of Petroleos de Venezuela, owns four U.S. oil refineries and two asphalt plants, with a combined daily crude processing capacity of 756,000 barrels. The company also operates a 265,000 barrel-a- day refinery in Houston that's a joint venture with Lyondell Chemical Co. and has more than 13,500 U.S. retail fuel outlets.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=aP3vwKnY0rNU&refer=latin_america

[Say_What]

4. Venezuela considers sending cheap home-heating oil to NW Indians

<clips>

EVERETT, Wash. - Venezuela's state-owned oil company wants to offer deep discounts on home heating oil to American Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest, The Herald of Everett reported Saturday.

Representatives of oil-giant Citgo Petroleum Corp. have contacted the Tulalip Tribes near Marysville, the Yakama Nation in central Washington, the Nez Perce and Coeur D'Alene tribes in Idaho, and others with information about a possible 40 percent discount on home heating oil.

Citgo is the Houston-based subsidiary of an oil company controlled by Venezuela and its controversial elected president, Hugo Chavez.

The idea is still in the exploratory stage, Citgo spokesman Jorge Toledo said.

"We're going to meet with some tribes in the West Coast within the next few weeks to consider the feasibility of a program there," he said. A local meeting is scheduled Wednesday at a SeaTac hotel.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/15262343.htm

[cliss]

5. Well, this is just a little bit odd -

If Chavez is going to increase sales to China, where are the 50,000 barrels going to come from? Going from 150,000 bbl/day to 200,000 bbl/day represents a 25% increase. That's quite a bit.

But it has to come from somewhere. Is he planning to cut back American exports?

(watch for fireworks)

[BrotherBuzz]

7. I believe it's actually a small percent of their total daily production...

China has been playing nice, what with their oil tanker deal and shared drilling technology, it appears they might have elevated to a 'favored nation' and is on the fast track to purchase all increased oil production in the near future from Venezuela.

[Acadia Blue]

6. An example of how Bush knows how to win friends and influence people.

The oil could have been sold to the USA, but Bush opposed Chavez and some say tried to have him killed. No proof of that of course.