Category:

FARC Rebels See Upsurge in Colombian Violence as Talks Drag

Colombia Marxist rebels said they’ll step up attacks on security forces after suspending their cease-fire as peace talks to end Latin America’s longest-running insurgency drag on. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, will target the army more than oil installations, a guerrilla commander known as Matias Aldecoa said in an interview in Havana. Pipelines used by companies including Ecopetrol SA and Occidental Petroleum Corp. have been damaged in FARC bombing attacks in the past few weeks. “Soon people will see the war in this latest phase, and they’re going to see the number of police and soldiers who die,” Aldecoa said Saturday, in an interview in Havana. “For us, oil pipelines aren’t the No. 1 target.” The FARC suspended a unilateral cease-fire in May after the armed forces killed at least 26 guerrillas in an attack in south west Colombia. The resumption of attacks has increased casualties […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China, Venezuela discuss 10-year cooperation plan

CARACAS, June 29 (Xinhua) — Venezuela and China on Monday assessed progress in bilateral projects and drafted a 10-year cooperation plan as part of their comprehensive strategic partnership. The plan was drafted during the 4th technical meeting of the China-Venezuela High-Level Joint Commission that opened here on Monday. Addressing the opening session of the three-day meeting, Venezuelan Vice President for Planning Ricardo Menendez said the goal of the meeting was to agree on projects that will help spur development in both nations. "We are going to be working on the topic of telecommunications," to provide computer tablets for university and primary school students, install related factories and build undersea cables to connect with other parts, such as the Caribbean, said Menendez. Also on the agenda are plans to boost Venezuelan industry by expanding cement plants, and iron, aluminum and paper manufacturing, and by bolstering infrastructure at ports and airports. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Guyana Assures Exxon Venezuela Dispute Won’t Slow Oil Exploration

By Kejal Vyas When it comes to Exxon Mobil Corp.’s recent oil discovery off the coast of Guyana, one that Venezuela claims as its own, Guyanese President David Granger has a clear message for the U.S. company: Full speed ahead. Mr. Granger, who took office days before Exxon announced the significant find last month, said that he met with officials from the company–which was contracted by Guyana–and offered assurances that exploration work won’t be interrupted, despite Venezuela’s recent revival of a century-old claim on two-thirds of Guyana’s territory. Guyana, a former British colony of 750,000 people and South America’s only English-speaking nation, is counting on diplomacy and the help of regional allies to resolve the matter. A Paris arbitration tribunal in 1899 had set the internationally recognized boundaries, but Venezuela sixty years later rejected the findings saying it was cheated. "We’re not going to send the navy out there […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Argentina and China lead shale development outside North America in first-half 2015

map of Neuquen Basin and Sichuan Basin, as explained in the article text As recently as last year, only four countries in the world were producing commercial volumes of either natural gas from shale formations (shale gas) or crude oil from tight formations (tight oil): the United States and Canada, and more recently, Argentina and China. Beyond these four countries, other countries have started exploring hydrocarbons from shale and other tight resources, but they are still short of reaching commercial production. The 2013 World Shale Gas and Shale Oil Resource Assessment , produced by EIA and Advanced Resources International (ARI), noted large shale deposits in China and Argentina. Exploration and drilling is already underway in these countries. For the last two years, China has drilled more than 200 wells, and Argentina has drilled more than 275 wells. Each country has the potential to significantly increase production of shale gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Pirates and hold-ups: crime strikes Venezuela’s oil industry

MARACAIBO, Venezuela When night falls over western Venezuela, armed gangs known as "pirates" sometimes ride boats into muggy Lake Maracaibo to steal equipment from oil wells. In the country’s Paraguana peninsula, opposite the Caribbean island of Aruba, slum dwellers at times break through a perimeter wall into Venezuela’s biggest refinery and rob machinery, construction tools, and cables to sell as scrap. On the other side of the OPEC country in Monagas state, around 26,000 potential barrels were lost in March during a shutdown after state oil company employees and contractors stole copper cables and caused a tank to overflow. Venezuela’s national crime pandemic – the United Nations says the country has the world’s second-highest murder rate after Honduras – is a growing headache for the oil industry, which accounts for nearly all of the country’s export revenues. Hold-ups and thefts in the sector are on the rise, taking a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Venezuela’s Maduro Faces His Biggest Test in December 6 Vote

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Photographer: Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images Venezuela’s opposition is set to gain control of congress for the first time in 16 years in a Dec. 6 vote seen as the biggest test yet for the Socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro. Official campaigning to choose all 167 members of the National Assembly will take place from Nov. 13 to Dec. 3, the head of national electoral council Tibisay Lucena said in a televised speech Monday. Opposition candidates would get 56.2 percent of the vote, compared to 29.8 percent for the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela currently in charge of the Assembly, according to the latest Datanalisis survey of 1,000 people. The May 18-30 poll had a 3 percentage-point margin of error. “We will be in a situation with an already weak president weakened further by a defeat in the election,” Barclays Plc analyst Alejandro […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Venezuela sets date for elections after mounting pressure

AP Photo/Fernando Llano CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela will hold legislative elections Dec. 6, election officials announced Monday after months of mounting pressure from local opposition groups and international observers. The South American country’s laws mandate that National Assembly balloting be held this year, but elections officials had delayed setting a date, raising concerns the contest would be canceled. In her announcement, elections council head Tibisay Lucena said the organization had always intended to set a date and was not reacting to public pressure. "These attacks and phony analyses from national experts and international figures have mostly been very ignorant," she said. The date is timed to commemorate the first election of the late President Hugo Chavez, who launched the country’s socialist revolution when voters chose him overwhelmingly on Dec. 6, 1998. The ruling socialist party currently holds a majority in the legislature, but polls indicate that if the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Big Investors Shun Venezuela’s Flagship Oil Industry Event

Jun 19, 2015 Venezuela’s biggest annual gathering of oil investors used to be a memorable affair: thousands of oilmen from around the world would arrive, greeted by statuesque models, and attend whisky-fueled after-parties. The deal-making could run into the billions. This year’s event was a far cry from previous years’ bashes, where hordes of investors would clamor for a stake in the country with the world’s largest oil reserves. “It used to be much bigger,” lamented Hugo Hernández, a former head of the Venezuela Petroleum Chamber, reminiscing about the days when 40,000 participants would show up. “You know how the situation is in the country. Now many people don’t come.” Organizers said slightly more than 3,000 people visited the expo this week, including hundreds of workers from state oil giant PDVSA. Among the notable absentees were many of Venezuela’s foreign production partners. Of the more than 30 multinationals that […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Refining Magnate O’Malley’s PBF Soars on Exxon-PDVSA Deal

PBF Energy Inc. surged a record 14 percent after agreeing to buy a Louisiana crude refinery jointly owned by Exxon Mobil Corp. and Venezuela’s state-controlled oil company. The transaction, valued at $322 million, will increase PBF’s refining capacity by more than one-third and marks the Parsippany, New Jersey-based company’s first foray into the Gulf Coast, the biggest U.S. crude-processing region. It “represents a significant step in the strategic growth of PBF,” Chief Executive Officer Thomas Nimbley said in a statement on Thursday. Executive Chairman Thomas O’Malley, a former oil trader, has spent the last quarter century amassing refining assets and selling them at a premium to bigger operators. Today’s purchase involves a 189,000 barrels-a-day refining and chemicals plant in the New Orleans suburb of Chalmette, as well as a patchwork of related pipelines and storage facilities. PBF climbed to $29.97 at the close in New York in the biggest […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple