Venezuela sees oil majors signing accord this week

[endarkenment]

Source: Financial Post (reuters)

Venezuela sees oil majors signing accord this week
Deisy Buitrago, Reuters
Published: Wednesday, June 20, 2007
By Deisy Buitrago

ARRECIFE, Venezuela (Reuters) - A sizable group out of the six foreign oil majors negotiating with Venezuela the nationalization of multibillion dollar projects are about to sign deals, the OPEC member's energy minister said on Wednesday.

Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez also said he expected negotiations to end this week, bringing forward by a few days a deadline the government set for the takeover of their four heavy-crude upgrading investments in the Orinoco oil belt.

Two industry officials, who asked not to be named because negotiations are ongoing, said a crucial point in talks is private companies' ability to oppose controversial decisions made by state oil giant PDVSA.

Discussions center on whether PDVSA, with a simple majority on the board of directors, could force private partners to accept decisions that would benefit the government at their expense.





Read more: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=abcd31bb-6894-4ceb-a3a4-ff343bf86445&k=45430

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An orderly transition. Imagine that: decisions made to benefit the people of Venezuela rather than the corporate bottom line. The horrors of democratic socialism!

[rjones2818]

1. Go Hugo and Venezuela!

Oil companies backing down! Who'd have ever thought they'd see that.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Anybody still wondering why our Bush-hijacked State Department or its

corporate media echo chamber would demonize Hugo Chavez?

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

3. NOPE! Not me.

But, I never did wonder about that 'cause it seemed blatantly obvious to me.

[JNelson6563]

5. Ask the DUers that buy the GOP pap on Chavez

They should be around any minute now to tell us how this is a bad thing and Chavez is a bad, bad man.

Julie

[hogwyld]

7. The silence from the Hugo bashers

is quite deafening don't you think?

[1932]

4. I bet the Bush administration promissed them that they were going to use RCTV to start a coup

and now that they see it didn't work, the oil companies are signing the agreements.

[Peace Patriot]

6. They may be signing the agreements, but that doesn't mean they have stopped

plotting. There are fascist rightwing paramilitary death squads in league with the Bush Oil Cartel scheming destabilization and toppling of the Andes democracies (Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and possibly Argentina), and who have long been implementing various fascist plans, in coordination with U.S. tax dollar funded agencies like USAID/NED (and some with corporate Democrat connections, such as the Soros-funded Albert Einstein Institute, and James Carville), to, a) support the rich landowners in Bolivia in keeping the oil/gas riches away from the poor, by splitting the country up into autonomous provinces; b) foment violent and disruptive protests (Venezuela, Bolivia); c) create trouble in border areas and rural areas with over-the-border spraying of pesticides in the murderous U.S. "war on drugs" and rightwing paramilitary incursions (to kill union organizers, peasant farmers and leftists), including plots to actually assassinate Chavez and others, hatched in Colombia by paramilitaries (torture, mass graves, drug trafficking) with close ties to the Uribe government (on which Bush has larded billions of our tax dollars in military aid); d) harass these democracies, ravaged by decades of corporate looting, in every way imaginable, including items such as the ludicrous, wasteful recall election against Chavez in '04 (which he won with almost 60% of the vote), food hoarding by corporate and other food distributors, rightwing obstructive tactics on the drafting of Bolivia's new constitution, relentless, 24/7 fascist propaganda in the almost entirely corporate/oligarchy-run broadcast media (one of which, RCTV, directly participated in a violent military coup in Venezuela--which is why they lost their license), formation of rightwing student groups as fronts for their elders, and many other tactics not aimed at providing dissent or an opposition, but aimed at making trouble and re-installing corporate-friendly fascist dictatorships.

The oil giants have had a hand in all of the destabilization efforts in Venezuela. They may be signing the contracts, but they never give up in seeking to steal the resources of third world countries, and, if they are polite today--because they miscalculated the strength of the democracy movement in the Andes region, and are maybe looking over their shoulders at Iraq and the need for a 250,000-strong army to steal THAT oil (--although the cost has fallen on us, the difficulties of extracting that oil against an unkillable insurgency are rather great--do they want that again in South America?), they are nevertheless no more to be trusted than a sleeping snake.

Evo Morales put the case eloquently, with regard to the vast poor populations of the Andes, who have amazingly established democratic governments there: "We want partners, not bosses." They are merely asking for justice and fairness, for equality, for dignity, and for their rights as a people. But oil giants are undemocratic, monolithic, and run for the greed and power of the people at the top. There couldn't be two more alien cultures. It remains to be seen whether the oil giants are dealing honorably, will keep their bargains, and will refrain from collusion with violent fascist forces including those of the U.S./Bushite State Department.

[EFerrari]

8. That's right. They sign with their right hand and cross their fingers

with their left. I'm surprised Mr. Chavez is still alive.