U.S. sanctions Venezuelan oil giant for Iran trade

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - The United States hit Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA with sanctions on Tuesday in a more aggressive bid to starve Iran of fuel, prompting fury and warnings from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government.

The sanctions are largely symbolic because they do not limit the company's sale of oil to the United States and other global markets, or the activities of its U.S.-based CITGO subsidiary. Venezuela's response was inevitably noisy and Chavez's oil minister made a thinly veiled warning against oil shipments.

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The sanctions appeared to be the least severe of a range of options available to Washington, meaning PDVSA is barred from access to U.S. government contracts and export financing but avoided tough limits on its use of U.S. markets for financing.

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"Sanctions against the Fatherland of Bolivia(sic)? Imposed by the Gringo imperialist? Well, welcome Mr. Obama, don't forget we are the children of Bolivar!" Chavez said on his Twitter account.





Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/25/us-iran-usa-sanctions-idUSTRE74N47R20110525?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

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the Reuters article says Bolivia in Chavez's quote when it should say Bolivar.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Next, it will escalate to Obama telling Chavez, "Your mother wears combat boots".

Venezuela's oil-reliant economy ships roughly 45 percent of its crude to the United States, making up about 10 percent of U.S. imports. U.S. oil majors ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips fled the country in 2007 after Chavez nationalized their flagship projects as part of his push for a socialist state.

(Note to you Chavez haters. Carlos Andres Perez paid over one billion dollars to nationalize the petroleum industry in 1976, so how the hell did our polluters have any say so in 2007? Somewhere the bullshit has to stop.)

And they could just as easily export to China, screwing us over.

would already be doing so...

While China is building the plants to process VZ oil (which is low grade and basically tar), they still don't have to capacity to process the amounts you're talking about. The US does, which kind of puts the shoe on the other foot. Or maybe the other hand?

The fact is that we both need each other and all this is just more political posturing (from both sides)...

The military would grind to a full stop.

The sanctions are just some natural thing that happens.

The Venezuelan reaction is angry and irrational! Inevitably noisy!

Sanctions against the Venezuelan national oil company are anything but "natural," but are a carefully contrived political wedge move. The ruling elite hate anyone that dares to defy their exploitation and predations, and will use any excuse to divide and conquer. Ever since Hugo Chavez was duly elected - several times - he and his country have been a target of the same gazillionaires and their corporations that have been plundering our country and the rest of the world.

So I fail to see what is irrational about the Venezuelan reaction. Of course they are going to defend themselves. There is nothing irrational about that. The national oil company in Venezuela is owned by the people of said country for their benefit. Like oil pumped by the major multinational oil companies, Venezuelan oil is sold on the open market. My question would be, what other oil companies have been selling oil to Iran? I have a feeling we might be surprised - or not.

Once again, I recommend the excellent documentary South of the Border, which is based on interviews of most of the South American presidents.

We are in agreement.

Goose-stepping on the horizon?

...which is used in Spanish (and Portuguese) speaking countries since forever.

than it will Venezuela. Europe and India will have no problem picking up the slack that Chavez loses to misplaced American vindictiveness.