Chavez Headed to Oil Fields with Troops and Shotguns

[Jcrowley]

Friday, April 13, 2007
Chavez Headed to Oil Fields with Troops and Shotguns

AP reports:

President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that soldiers will accompany government officials when they take over oil projects in the Orinoco River basin next month...

"On May 1 we are going to take control of the oil fields," Chavez said. "I'm sure no transnational company is going to draw a shotgun, but we will go with the armed forces and the people."

The projects — run by BP PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, France's Total SA and Norway's Statoil ASA — upgrade heavy, tar-like crude into more marketable oils and are considered Venezuela's most promising. As older fields elsewhere go into decline, development of the Orinoco is seen as key to Venezuela's future production.

Negotiations over the takeover have yet to yield an agreement and are expected to be difficult as the companies seek a deal that takes into account more than $17 billion in investments and loans related to the projects.

http://www.economicpolicymonitor.com/2007/04/chaved-headed-to-oil-fields-with-troops.html

AP story here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070413/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_oil_takeover_3

[RufusTFirefly]

1. What?! No mention of Castro??

Most northern-based articles about Chavez always seem to find a way to mention Fidel Castro somewhere, whether it's relevant or not. As Dr. Evil would say, it's "pret-ty standard." The folks at AP are slipping...

[Faux pas]

2. Good for him. Too bad bush will probably sending troops down

there now. After all, isn't the US the true owner of all the world's natural resources? :sarcasm:

Guess this will be a Blackwater's next assignment....

[1932]

3. He must remember what happened to Nicaraguan energy infrastructure

after the Sandanistas came to power.

(Fascist terrorists sabotaged it.)