Venezuela Considering Panama Pipeline to Send Oil to China

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBAL2CZB3E.html

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela plans talks with Panama next week on a proposal to pump oil through a Panamanian pipeline to the Pacific in order to cut shipping costs to China, the Venezuelan foreign minister said Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez denied that new agreements signed last week to sell Venezuelan oil to China are part of any strategy to decrease oil exports to the United States, the No. 1 buyer of Venezuelan crude.

He said Venezuela has no intent to "sacrifice the North American population" but rather expects to "increase that flow of energy."

The pipeline across Panama is being considered as a low-cost option for shipping oil to China, to which Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has agreed to sell 120,000 barrels of fuel oil a month.

The pipeline was built years ago to carry up to 800,000 barrels of oil a day from the Pacific to the Caribbean, but is now carrying a relatively small quantity, Rodriguez said.

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[Robbien]

1. The group of more than twenty developing nations are shaking off the IMF

and are doing business amongst themselves. It is working for Argentina and Venezuela and many of the others in the group.

They just need to keep the greedy American market pacified to keep the global capitalists hands off long enough for the developing nations to recover.

[pinerow]

2. The writing seems to be on the wall...the U.S. will have to deal

with the other hemispheric nation as equals.

[artr2]

3. OOPS! Bush invaded the wrong oil laden country

Watch out, Mr Chavez your name could turn into Saddam in a heartbeat

[SoCalDem]

4. I sincerely hope they do NOT do this.. I grew up in Panama

and the jungle is under enough attack without having a pipeline threading through what's left :cry:

[HuckleB]

5. The pipeline is already there.

[Robbien]

7. But isn't the pipeline already there?

The environmental damage has already been done. The article says it just wants to use the pipeline to its full capacity.

Am I missing something?

[SoCalDem]

10. Well....... SHIT !!!

I have always wanted to go back, but never have.. I guess it would be too heartbreaking .:cry:

I was there when you could drink from streams, and there was no pollution to speak of.. trees as far as the eye could see, and flocks of toucans & parrots so thick, they blotted out the sun when they flew above you :cry:

[Robbien]

11. I heartily agree with your sentiment. There have been many reports

of the damage done to the Panama environment. This pipeline construction being among them.

Hopefully if they stop paying attention to the IMF they can keep further damage from happening. This group of more than twenty developing nations is a ray of hope I believe.

[colonel odis]

6. how long before the u.s. has to buy its oil from russia and china?

and that, ladies and gentlemen, would not be good news for the u.s.

but the path mr. bush is taking us down is leading to scenarios like that. 10 years from now, we'll be as insignificant as a lot of former empires.

[proud patriot]

8. well this should go over real well , don't ya think ?

:eyes:

[0rganism]

9. Too bad Colombia is such a shithole

A place like Buenaventura would be the natural seaport for China and the Western USA to load oil tankers with Venezuelan and Colombian oil, if Colombia were stable. Still, I'm sure the Panamanians will enjoy the additional commerce.

Colombia has got to be the #1 failure in South America. It could be such a rich country, yet centuries of insanity and exploitation have broken and battered it to pieces. It's hard for me to see a way out for them as things stand now.

I have high hopes for Venezuela, though. Chavez has his flaws, but he has some very intelligent people backing him and -- more importantly -- true support from the people. His success may prove to be a model for Colombia and other poor nations, which appears to strike fear in the hearts of the IMF's robber barons.

[pinerow]

12. As long as the U.S. is calling the shots in Colombia, it will remain

a shit-hole.

[0rganism]

15. Of course, since it's allegedly in our "interest" to keep it that way

But when the campesinos of Colombia look just a little to the east, they can see an answer forming just across the border.

That is one reason Hugo Chavez Frias is so very dangerous to the neo-cons, and he will eventually be hated by the Colombian drug cartels and the paramilitaries as well. They all stand to profit handsomely from the spread of chaos within Colombia. As strong as Chavez is, I hope that he has a firm line of succession; the revolution is still fragile and his mortal enemies are legion. Assasination will be a threat to him for the rest of his life.

[Vogon_Glory]

13. Gee Dubya's Reality vs Connie Claims

I find it delightfully ironic that the Chinese are thinking of building a pipeline across Panama to secure their oil supplies. I remember just how loudly right wingie-dingies were howling about possible Chinese influence in the former US enclave and here it is coming to pass--under a conservative Republican President and under a conservative Republican-controlled Congress.

Howling right-wing Pharisaical hypocrites.

[VegasWolf]

14. Guess the IMF never figured that they would have competetion in

trying to control the world.