At Oil Firm (PDVSA), Signs Of Trouble

[Rage for Order]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Figures from the International Energy Agency research center show a $7.9 billion loss last year, which would be astonishing, given skyrocketing oil prices. The IEA calculates that Venezuela produces about 2.4 million barrels of oil per day, about a quarter less than PDVSA says it's pumping out. Most independent experts use the IEA's figures, which indicate that output at PDVSA has dropped by 800,000 barrels per day since 1997. And despite the current high oil prices, PDVSA appears to be running out of cash.

Government energy officials, who didn't respond to requests for comment, have painted a brighter picture of PDVSA. They say oil production has stayed largely steady at 3.3 million barrels per day, a little more than a decade ago, and will hit 6 million barrels per day by 2012. That upbeat view assumes that Venezuela can obtain the financing for a $70 billion expansion to double its oil output in four years. The threat of U.S. sanctions would make it harder for PDVSA to find investors.

The lack of foreign investment and know-how is particularly acute, analysts said, because Chavez fired 23,000 PDVSA employees during and after a 2003 strike. They've been replaced in large part by political appointees, and the company's employee rolls have swollen to 115,000, almost three times what they were a decade ago, two former PDVSA officials said. The government says they've grown to 75,000, although Chavez has said he wants to increase that to about 114,000 by the end of next year.

The lack of expertise has dragged down everything from the maintenance of drilling equipment to planning for future production. Production costs also jumped by 27 percent in 2006, while sales grew by 20 percent, PDVSA figures show. Adding to the problem, foreign companies, including lenders of drilling rigs, are reluctant to work with Venezuela after Chavez seized the operations of Exxon Mobil and other multinationals. The result has been a shortage of drilling rigs and other equipment needed to keep production flowing.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/226/story/542299.html

[Pavulon]

1. "Lack of Foreign investment"...

now I wonder why that would happen?

If they are hurting at the highest oil prices in history that indicates a major problem.

[mbperrin]

6. High prices sometimes are accompanied by high costs.

Other firms seem to be having problems, as well, all for various reasons:
1381 Hits on Google for oil company posts loss; here's the first few:

The Canadian Press
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iMpMImk-QR050nrVeawq6eZ0EhTA

First Calgary posts 2007 loss of $11.7M, after prior-year loss of $14.7M

3 days ago

TORONTO — Facing shareholder restlessness, First Calgary Petroleums Ltd. (TSX:FCP) said Thursday the development of the MLE field in Algeria is "on budget and on schedule" after posting a net loss of $11.7 million in 2007.

FCP has "completed the exploration and appraisal drilling on the Block 405b area (which includes MLE), having drilled and completed 31 wells," Rick Anderson, company'president and CEO, told a conference call Thursday.


Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5625792.html

BreitBurn Energy Posts Big 4Q Loss

© 2008 The Associated Press

NEW YORK — BreitBurn Energy Partners L.P. on Monday said it lost $47.1 million in the last three months of 2007, as steep losses on derivative investments outpaced increased energy sales.

The quarterly loss amounted to 86 cents per unit. The company, which went public in October 2006, did not provide comparable data for the prior year.

The results included unrealized derivative losses of $63.6 million because of the effect of higher crude oil and natural gas futures prices. Excluding those losses, the company said it would have earned $16.5 million.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial predicted earnings of 42 cents per share. Those forecasts typically exclude one-time gains and losses.

Revenue, which included the derivative losses, fell to $10 million from $24.9 million in the third quarter. No comparable-year figures were provided. Sales from oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids grew sharply compared with the prior quarter, however, rising to $81 million from $49.5 million.


Denver Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/03/17/daily6.html

Venoco posts loss, drop in revenue for 2007
Denver Business Journal

Venoco Inc. posted a sizable lost for 2007 as commodities derivative losses ate at the company's bottom line.

The Denver oil and natural gas company (NYSE: VQ), which discontinued the use of hedge accounting in April 2007, said that change creates more volatility in its commodity derivative gains and losses. Commodity derivative losses increased to $147.3 million from $2.36 million in 2006.


RTT News

http://www.rttnews.com/sp/breakingnews.asp?date=03/20/2008&item=132&vid=0

Iteration Energy Posts Narrower Loss In Q4; FFO Increases

3/20/2008 2:30:35 PM Thursday, Iteration Energy Ltd (ITX.TO, ITXFF.PK), announced fourth quarter results, reporting a narrower loss on increased gas prices.

The Calgary, Canada-based Iteration Energy's fourth quarter net loss narrowed to C$ 3.15 million or C$ 0.05 per share from C$ 3.24 million or C$ 0.06 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Funds from operations were C$ 11.10 million or FFO per share of C$ 0.16, up from C$ 8.29 million or FFO per share of C$ 0.15 in the same quarter last year.

Production revenues before royalties were C$ 29.27 million, compared to C$ 17.94 million in the same quarter a year ago. Production for the quarter increased to 7.99 boed or barrel oil equivalent per day from 5.21 boed in the comparable quarter last year.


RTT News
http://www.rttnews.com/sp/breakingnews.asp?date=03/17/2008&item=155&vid=0


Ivanhoe Energy Posts A Wider Loss In Q4 On Lower Revenues

3/17/2008 6:26:08 PM Monday, Ivanhoe Energy, Inc. (IVAN), an independent heavy oil development and production company, announced financial results for the fourth quarter, reporting a wider loss on fall in total revenues.

Ivanhoe Energy's net loss for the fourth quarter was $18.8 million or $0.07 per share, wider than $11.3 million or $0.05 per share in the same quarter of the previous year.

Total revenues for the fourth quarter were $5.8 million, down 47% from $11.1 million in the equivalent quarter of the earlier year.

Depletion and depreciation costs for the fourth quarter fell marginally to $7.6 million from $7.7 million in the same quarter a year ago.

Total assets at the end of the fiscal year were $236.9 million, lower than $248.5 million in the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

Cash flow from operating activities declined to $923 thousand from $3.0 million in the earlier year quarter. Cash and cash equivalents decreased to $11.4 million from $13.9 million in the year-ago quarter.

[ohio2007]

11. Adam Smith didn't own a car

The cost of food goes up as the cost of fuel climbs. You don't have to own a car to see this happening right here.

[Rage for Order]

13. The difference being...

The companies you show have total revenues in the lower tens of millions per year, versus PDVSA, which has revenues in the billions. Much different strategy when you're dealing with companies that operate in the millions versus the billions. Additionally, BreitBurn & Venoco (in your post) lost money primarily due to derivative investment losses, not losses on oil production:

"BreitBurn Energy Partners L.P. on Monday said it lost $47.1 million in the last three months of 2007, as steep losses on derivative investments outpaced increased energy sales."

"Venoco Inc. posted a sizable lost for 2007 as commodities derivative losses ate at the company's bottom line."

[mbperrin]

20. I SAID there were various reasons.

Right? And all profit making strategies are the same: take in more than you spend. Lots of reasons why this might not happen, in spite of high prices. I was responding to a post which indicated that high prices guaranteed success, and if no success, operators would have to be idiots.

All I'm saying is that idiocy is no requirement, that there are lots of reasons. Your argument that scalability is not applicable here I find a bit strange. Are you saying size of companies guarantees success? One word: Enron.

[Rage for Order]

25. Of course a company's size does not guarantee success

But to draw parallels between companies that have $10 million a year in revenue and companies that have ~$10 billion in annual revenue is quite a stretch. The economics are different, as are the issues that face firms of such drastically different sizes.

All profit making strategies are not the same. All companies seek to make more than they spend, but their strategies for making this happen are often very different. Some of the oil companies you mentioned tried to make profits by investing in derivatives and failed, while other oil companies seek to make profit strictly by recovering and selling oil. Two very different strategies, two very different results.

[mbperrin]

30. No, all their results are the same.

Losing money.

[Arctic Dave]

2. Can you say Propaganda? I knew you could.

Let's paint Chavez as a bad person some more, so we can justify our meddling in V's affairs.

[Rage for Order]

4. How exactly is this propaganda?

Pointing out potential problems within a state-run oil company is now anti-Chavez propaganda? Okay then. :eyes:

[struggle4progress]

24. See #23 for some deconstruction

[Winterblues]

38. Are governments supposed to be profitable?

This is a Government run oil company and the Government quadrupled employment numbers for it. They also cut the price of oil for the poor throughout North and South America. It is being run to benefit the people and not CEOs. I think what is being done for the people is quite admirable and the best Venezuela has had it in many many years...More people are employed than any time in recent history and the Venezuelan economy is considered "Overheated" because people have money to spend but the stores can not keep up so shelves stay empty..One thing this Republican Administration can never ever be accused of is creating an "overheated" economy which dogged Clinton for over six years...

[ladywnch]

3. "They've been replaced in large part by political appointees,...."

gee this worked so well for chucklenuts.

Chavez appear to have taken a page from jr's book.


Chavez fired 23,000 PDVSA employees during and after a 2003 strike. They've been replaced in large part by political appointees, and the company's employee rolls have swollen to 115,000, almost three times what they were a decade ago, two former PDVSA officials said.

The lack of expertise has dragged down everything from the maintenance of drilling equipment to planning for future production.

Production costs also jumped by 27 percent in 2006, while sales grew by 20 percent, PDVSA figures show.


you think Chavez and jr were in school together?

[ohio2007]

12. members of his family have a greater role as the infrastructure and daily maintenance costs

climb and parts become scarce.

[Arctic Dave]

5. If they were really hurting for foreign

funds or expertise the Chinese would be more then willing to help. Now, before everybody choirs in that V's oil is heavy crude and nobody but us mericans can refine it, China could have their refineries refitted in about a year to deal with this type of oil. They also have the political will to do so with the amount of expasion they are generating. Now, you will also say with merican sanctions on equipment they would have difficulty with expanding their output. I say, see above answer and remember, if Cheney didn't have a problem with dealing with Iran what makes you think oil service companies will have a problem dealing with V. We are in no way in some checkmate situation with V and yes they can just take their ball and go somewhere else. Unless we interfere in destablize them by propaganda, which this article is, and covert means, which we are doing.

[ohio2007]

15. China doesn't use the crude sludge that is produced down there.

The US petroleum industry can refine the sludge but not China's infrastructure.

[Arctic Dave]

16. Read my post..

If they choose to they could have the capability in about a year. What is done on the gulf coast is not a once in history achievement for refining low viscosity oil. Also, "sludge" and low viscosity oil are two different things. If anyone had the capability of pumping "sludge" Alaska would be putting it into use in the shallow oil reserves to boost production and profits.

[UTUSN]

7. Falling oil production a challenge for Venezuelan leader

Source: Yahoo, McClatchy

*******QUOTE*******

.... Venezuela's economy has boomed with the oil bonanza, growing by 8.4 percent last year, although that's also fueled the region's highest inflation rate. And that's a problem for Chavez, high oil prices notwithstanding, because he's guaranteed government workers paychecks that are indexed to inflation. Chavez's popularity, measured in a recent national poll, has fallen to 34 percent amid economic problems, food shortages and rising crime.

The lack of foreign investment and know-how is particularly acute, analysts said, since Chavez fired 23,000 PDVSA (the country's state-run energy company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., known by its Spanish initials PDVSA) employees during and after a 2003 strike.

They've been replaced in large part by political appointees, and the company's employee rolls have swollen to 115,000, almost three times what they were a decade ago, two former PDVSA officials said. The government says they've grown only to 75,000, though Chavez has said he wants to increase that to about 114,000 by the end of next year. ....


PDVSA'S problems are "leading to his downfall," Eddie Ramirez said of Chavez. "Between a PDVSA that he didn't control and an inefficient one, he preferred an inefficient PDVSA ."

********UNQUOTE*******


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080321/wl_mcclatchy/2886498

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[glowing]

9. More b.s. to make Chavez the bad guy and Oil Co's the good guys.

They want that oil. They don't like democracies. They want their profits while screwing the the people.

In related topics, there was an article on the front page of the St. Pete Times about the huge company Nestle. Apparently, they don't pay a dime to the state for anything they extract... Seems like someone thinks that this big co. that is only making profit, should be sharing to the citizens it is stealing from.

[mbperrin]

10. A little more on Eddie Ramirez in the same article

"Former PDVSA director Eddie Ramirez , a Chavez opponent"

Kinda relevant.

[Rage for Order]

14. Kind of like "Richard Clarke, former CIA operative and Bush opponent" n/t

[mbperrin]

21. Difference is my quote is from the article. Yours is not.

Clarke isn't mentioned, much less in the words you say. Look at the next to last paragraph of the OP, it's there.

[Rage for Order]

26. Not the point I was making

You say "...Eddie Ramirez, Chavez opponent", as though the fact that he's an opponent of Chavez instantly makes him non-credible. My point is that someone is not non-credible simply because they are an opponent of the people who are currently in charge of a place where they used to work. Don't like the message? Go through the article and find factual inaccuracies. Attacking the messenger is an intellectually lazy way out.

[mbperrin]

22. In fact, here's the last paragraphs in full.

Former PDVSA director Eddie Ramirez, a Chavez opponent, said the company had also invested heavily in social programs rather than in oil production, further hurting efficiency. PDVSA figures show that the company spent $13.8 billion in social funding in 2006, double the 2005 amount.

"It's distracting from the company's principal mission ... selling oil," Ramirez said.

"You can't ask an oil company to take on what should be a function of the state."


Here's the argument Ramirez is making: Using oil company profits to benefit the owners of the company is wrong. Company owned by the country spends money benefiting the country, the owners. Hardly controversial. Folks swallowed the retirement of the Exxon chief in the hundreds of millions without a peep.

Helping people who aren't already wealthy and well connected offends some. You one of those?

[Rage for Order]

28. Oh yes, I'm quite offended

Ramirez is saying an oil company's job is to produce and sell oil, and a government's job is to administer social programs. The government should tax the profits of the state-run company, and then use those taxes to fund social programs. Instead, Chavez has the revenues going directly to the state. As a result, there aren't enough funds left over for the reinvestment necessary to keep the oil businsess running efficiently.

[mbperrin]

31. I don't know they didn't invest enough.

They're in business and operating. People who don't like them using their money in the way they're using say they're in trouble.

Real fact for sure: They're in business and operating.

[struggle4progress]

17. Why didn't the article use Pietro Donatello Pitts full name?

The links reads

...said Pietro Donatello, the Venezuela-based editor of the magazine Latin Petroleum...
http://www.star-telegram.com/226/story/542299.html

but that ain't the feller's full name

from the May 31, 2006 edition
Venezuela's oil model: Is production rising or falling? ...
By Danna Harman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
... says Pietro Donatello Pitts, editor of Latin Petroleum ...
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0531/p04s01-woam.html

Fact is, he's a Texas boy

HOME | Editorial Team
Pietro Donatello Pitts
Oil Reporter
Pietro Pitts ... attended the University of Houston in Texas, and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) in Finance ... Pietro is also editor of LatinPetroleum magazine, a privately-owned company providing information on the petroleum industry throughout the Latin American ... Pietro is a native-Houstonian ... http://www.dj.com.ve/article.asp?ArticleId=193009&CategoryId=13282

[Rage for Order]

18. How is the fact that he's from Texas relevant?

So he was born in Houston and attended college in Houston. This is somehow nefarious?

[struggle4progress]

23. Let's just examine who was quoted in the article:

Chavez opponent Eddie Ramirez (see #10); Chavez opponent Robert Bottome, brother of the main shareholder and director of RCTV (see #19); and US citizen Pietro Donatello Pitts (see #17)

Only Ramirez is identified as an opponent of Chavez

Bottome, who has a long history of misleading accusations, is not identified as a Chavez opponent

Let us turn to Pitts, identified only as "Pietro Donatello .. Venezuela-based editor of .. Latin Petroleum," though he has long written under his full name "Pietro Donatello Pitts" and is often elsewhere identified as "founder and CEO of Latin Petroleum." In fact, according to his magazine's website

LATINPETROLEUM ... is a Houston-based publisher of the monthly electronic magazine, LatinPetroleum eMagazine; the quarterly print magazine, LatinPetroleum Magazine; and the daily HTML email, the LatinPetroleum eDaily http://www.latinpetroleum.com/new/blogdetail.php?blogid=125

so the operation isn't really based in Venezuela at all but in Houston, long a corporate center for the US oil industry ( http://www.aspo-usa.com/aspousa3/ ). Pitts considers himself a Houston native, and his alma mater is there; these facts together suggest that Pitts' publication is written for US oil interests. So how do those interests feel about Chavez? Exxon-Mobil (with its corporate headquarters in Irving TX, and with its Chemical and Exploration/Production branches both operating out of Houston), for example, currently seems to be a bit grumpy with Chavez. But if Pitts' bread and butter comes from such companies, one might expect him to have a purely business interest in spinning Venezuela in a manner acceptable to them.

Let us now return to my original question: why didn't the article use Pitts' full name when quoting him? All of his corporate readers, of course, will know who was being quoted, the instant they see the LatinPetroleum tag. So the last name hasn't been dropped because of them: it must have been dropped for some other reason. And the likely other reason is -- a hope that readers will assume after a quick glance that Pietro Donatello is a Venezuelan, not a Houstonite


<edit:> mee gonta lurn speling sumtyme

[Rage for Order]

27. A couple of things

The article says that Donatello Pitts is based in Venezuela, not that Latin Petroleum is based in Venezuela:

"...said Pietro Donatello, the Venezuela-based editor of the magazine Latin Petroleum"

The fact that Pitts is from Houston and went to college in Houston does not suggest that his publication is written for US oil interests. It suggests that it's written for interested oil industry observers, wherever they may be.

You could email the authors of the story and ask them why they didn't use Pitts' full name. My guess is that it's lazy journalism, something not especially new in the US or the rest of the world. Regardless, the sources of the numbers used in the article are disclosed, so anyone who has a desire to do so can look them up online to refute the parts of the article that they find questionable. I would suggest refuting the substance of the message (with facts rather than suppositions) instead of simply saying "oh, well, so and so said it so I doubt if it's true. Therefore I won't believe it, even if I don't have any evidence to the contrary."

[struggle4progress]

29. I typically choose my own words and don't at all appreciate you putting other words in my mouth

You lecture me for allegedly saying Oh, well, so and so said it so I doubt if it's true. Therefore I won't believe it, even if I don't have any evidence to the contrary -- though I never said anything of the sort

What I indicated is that the article quoted three people, all of whom are identified more carefully in this thread. Two turn out to be well-known as Chavez opponents, though the article identifies only one of them thusly. The name of the third was not even correctly given, but he turns out to have been raised and schooled in the hub-city of the US oil industry, where he founded and still publishes an English-language report on oil in Latin America: the fact, that he may happily accept subscriptions from anywhere, is completely irrelevant to the fact that he is most likely to write and speak in a manner that the local Texas clientele find acceptable, since he was raised in that culture and his business is centered there

Although the article contains criticisms of PDVSA, it contains no response from PDVSA or supporters of PDVSA. "Sloppy reporting" is unlikely to account for such slanted coverage: rather, one should note that rightwing business interests have in recent years made a concerted effort to seize control of mass media. Even formerly excellent and independent outlets such as McClatchy have been lost in this manner

[Rage for Order]

33. My apologies

I was interpreting your post, and as often happens interpretation get mangled when reading someone's words versus hearing them speak their words. The tone of your post came across as "I doubt it" and that's what I was commenting on, but if that's not accurate then again, I apologize.

The government of Venezuela elected not to comment:

"Government energy officials, who didn't respond to requests for comment..."

Gov't officials declined to comment, so instead the article used official PDVSA statements, releases, and reports to determine their position concerning PDVSA's profitability and financial well-being.

[struggle4progress]

34. M'own readin ain't always errorfree neither, as y'can see

[Psephos]

36. What does all this have to do with the fact that Vz oil production is falling?

I'm hardly surprised that opponents of Chavez are pointing it out. What would you expect them to do?

Venezuelan oil production is falling. We can have a good discussion about why that's happening without performing all the vilification rituals that wreck the usefulness of discourse.

[struggle4progress]

37. Is the article about oil production or about profits?

After all, article tells us "PDVSA ... lost $3.6 billion .... Figures from the International Energy Agency ... show a $7.9 billion loss" but "the company spent $13.8 billion in social funding"

Do we know production is declining? Or is it merely that somebody suspects it is? After all, article tells us "IEA calculates ... Venezuela produces ... 2.4 million barrels ... per day .... Government ... officials ... say ... production ... steady at 3.3 million barrels per day"

And do we (or do we not) expect production from existing wells around the world to fall anyway? Incidently, just what should the US do about its gasoline guzzling? Both global warming and high-priced oil suggest my driving options should become limited and will become limited. Does that mean I'm gonna get used to walking everywhere while folks that had golden parachutes will whizz past in their Hummers?

[struggle4progress]

19. Robert Bottome of Veneconomia regularly makes charges against Chavez

British Journalist John Sweeney lies in BBC Documentary on Venezuela
... Press release of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the UK ...

... Robert Bottome ... is the brother of the main shareholder and director of RCTV, the Venezuelan television network that played an active role during the 2002 coup d'etat against Chávez ...

http://www.vicuk.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=212&Itemid=64

Crude awakening: Oil prices will dictate how much pain Venezuelans feel - Outlook
Latin Trade, Feb, 2002 by Greg Brown, Julio Rivas-Pita

... The real risk, though, lies in government debt, says Robert Bottome, editor of the Veneconomy newsletter in Caracas. Venezuela ran a deficit of $10.7 billion in 2001 and is set to repeat that figure in 2002. If oil hits Bottome's expected price of $15 a barrel, government debt in 2002 balloons to $20.1 billion, around 10% of GDP. The government has bought time by "ramming huge amounts of public-sector internal debt down the throats of the banks," says Bottome. "At some point, the banks are going to choke on it," he says ...

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BEK/is_2_10/ai_82801235

Originally Aired: February 13, 2007
Chavez's New Policies Divide Venezuela

... ROBERT BOTTOME: The day the price of oil settles to a more reasonable level, which I think is soon, we're just in trouble ...

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/jan-june07/venezuela_02-13.html

Chavez's plans to nationalise strategic sectors rattle investors
January 10, 2007
By Alex Kennedy and Guillermo Parra-Bernal
... "Chavez seems bent on modelling Venezuela after the old Soviet economy, where the state controls everything," said Robert Bottome of research firm Veneconomia ... http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3619676

Posted on Tue, Mar. 18, 2008
Chavez allegedly pursues controversial socialist agenda
By Casto Ocando
McClatchy Newspapers
... "On the domestic front, Chavez continues his advance towards imposing his project of 21st century communism," said Robert Bottome, president of Vencomia ... http://www.realcities.com/mld/charlotte/news/world/18474249.htm

Chavez Regime Spurs Fears of Anti-Semitism
November 15, 2007
Larry Luxner
... "A lot of people are leaving the country, but not only because they're Jewish," said Robert Bottome, publisher of VenEconomy Weekly in Caracas and an outspoken critic of the Chavez government ...
http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/14542/

Editing Chavez to Manufacture a Slur
Some outlets spread spurious charges of anti-Semitism
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9621

Letter from Caracas
by David A. Harris
Executive Director, American Jewish Committee
October 20, 2005
...Surprise of surprises, there isn't a uniform assessment about the situation among the Jews with whom we met ...
http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=845459&ct=1519343

[UTUSN]

32. So Huguito is at THIRTY FOUR percentum, like his buddy Shrub

Huguito wants to retire with Shrub, but Huguito thinks it's at Crawford pig farm, where the two of them will play dominos, whereas the BUSH family will be in PARAGUAY, with all the WATER!

[bemildred]

35. Venezuelans burn Exxon 'Judas' in Easter ritual

CARACAS, March 23 (Reuters) - In a political take on a popular Easter ritual, hundreds of Venezuelans cheered at the burning of an "Judas" effigy symbolizing oil giant Exxon Mobil, which last week lost a battle with the South American nation.

With a pink face, sculpted hair and wearing a pair of aviator-style sunglasses, the model packed with fireworks was hoisted up a pole and set ablaze with a flaming torch on Sunday while African-inspired dancers swayed to fast drum rhythms.

Pinned to the effigy's gasoline-soaked two piece suit a sign read "Mister Exxon."

A British judge last Tuesday lifted a $12 billion freeze on Venezuelan assets awarded to Exxon, dealing a blow to the oil giant in its fight with the OPEC nation over President Hugo Chavez's nationalization crusade.

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSN2329845320080324?rpc=401&