Venezuela & Iran - Chinas New Partners
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will meet tomorrow, Friday and Saturday to sign deals in oil, gas, petrochemicals and shipping during President Khatami’s visit to Venezuela. Iran and Venezuela are respectively #2 and #5 in global oil production. Both countries recently inked large natural gas and oil deals with China. In return the Chinese are supplying large amounts of capex investment and an indirect protective umbrella from other countries.
On March 2nd, 2005 - Lyondell-Citgo Refining LP, a joint venture between Lyondell Chemical Co. and Citgo Petroleum Corp., shut a unit at its Houston crude-oil refinery yesterday, state regulators said. Lyondell Chemical spokesman David Harpole declined to comment on the report or the refinery's operations. The refinery can process 265,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
The U.S. depends on Venezuela for 15% of its oil imports, and when a strike at PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela) disrupted crude shipments in 2003, American refineries were left scrambling. Ever since the Bush Administration appeared to endorse a short-lived coup d'état against Chávez in 2002, to curb Venezuela's dependence on the U.S., which absorbs 60% of the country's oil exports, President Chávez has been working to find new markets.
Citgo Petroleum Corp. has named Felix Rodriguez, vice president of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, as president and CEO. Citgo is owned by PDV America Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela which is Venezuela's state-run oil company. Citgo is the largest distributor of gasoline in the United States with over 14,000 independently owned service stations bearing the CITGO name.
In December Chavez visited China and inked deals to sell 120,000 barrels a month of fuel oil to China and includes a new pipeline to a port on Columbia's coast, which could ferry large amounts of crude to Pacific ports, thus avoiding the U.S. controlled Panama Canal. Chavez wants to sell all eight U.S. based CITGO refineries which are owned by PDVSA. This is the first step in divestiture of all of PDVSA U.S. based assets, after which Chavez can then pull the plug on supply lines without any financial repercussion.
See: Iran Act III? Maybe Not?
http://naybob.blogspot.com/2005/02/act-iii-iran-maybe-not.html
See: Businessweek Chavez killing the Golden Goose?http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content-/05_11/b3924086_mz058.htm
See: Bidders come forward for Citgo refining network
http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston-/stories/2005/03/07/daily34.html
On March 2nd, 2005 - Lyondell-Citgo Refining LP, a joint venture between Lyondell Chemical Co. and Citgo Petroleum Corp., shut a unit at its Houston crude-oil refinery yesterday, state regulators said. Lyondell Chemical spokesman David Harpole declined to comment on the report or the refinery's operations. The refinery can process 265,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
The U.S. depends on Venezuela for 15% of its oil imports, and when a strike at PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela) disrupted crude shipments in 2003, American refineries were left scrambling. Ever since the Bush Administration appeared to endorse a short-lived coup d'état against Chávez in 2002, to curb Venezuela's dependence on the U.S., which absorbs 60% of the country's oil exports, President Chávez has been working to find new markets.
Citgo Petroleum Corp. has named Felix Rodriguez, vice president of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, as president and CEO. Citgo is owned by PDV America Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela which is Venezuela's state-run oil company. Citgo is the largest distributor of gasoline in the United States with over 14,000 independently owned service stations bearing the CITGO name.
In December Chavez visited China and inked deals to sell 120,000 barrels a month of fuel oil to China and includes a new pipeline to a port on Columbia's coast, which could ferry large amounts of crude to Pacific ports, thus avoiding the U.S. controlled Panama Canal. Chavez wants to sell all eight U.S. based CITGO refineries which are owned by PDVSA. This is the first step in divestiture of all of PDVSA U.S. based assets, after which Chavez can then pull the plug on supply lines without any financial repercussion.
See: Iran Act III? Maybe Not?
http://naybob.blogspot.com/2005/02/act-iii-iran-maybe-not.html
See: Businessweek Chavez killing the Golden Goose?http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content-/05_11/b3924086_mz058.htm
See: Bidders come forward for Citgo refining network
http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston-/stories/2005/03/07/daily34.html
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