Analysis: Oil and Gas

We Have to Get Out of the ICSID

By Luis Britto Garcia , Jan 24th 2012

"We have to get out of ICSID" proclaims Hugo Chavez Frias during ´Hello, President´ on the 8th of January 2012. To understand why, let´s recap. States are sovereign. A state cannot be judged by other states or organisms, because it has jurisdictional immunity, which is inalienable. To hand that over is to loose sovereignty

New PDVSA Gives Precedence to Social Investment and Integration

By YVKE / AVN / RNV, Nov 22nd 2011

Before the Bolivarian Revolution, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) the Venezuelan state-run oil company, was completely cut off from society and its needs. The strategic guidelines of the country’s oil industry were set abroad to favour large multinationals such as Exxon and Shell, among others.

WikiLeaks Cables Show Haiti as Pawn in U.S. Foreign Policy

By Katie Soltis - COHA, Jul 28th 2011

When WikiLeaks announced its plan to release tens of thousands of classified U.S. diplomatic cables to the public, the U.S. government feared a massive international backlash and threat to national security. In this analysis, COHA's Katie Soltis details how the U.S. tried to undermine Haiti’s oil deal with Venezuela in order to protect the vested interests of U.S. oil corporations, among other policies that prioritized U.S. interests over the Haitian people's.

US-Venezuelan Relations: Just Frozen or Beyond Repair?

By John Daly - Oilprice.com, Jun 10th 2011

On 24 May the Obama administration imposed sanctions against Venezuela's state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), causing Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicolás Maduro to affirm “the relation (with the U.S.) is frozen." Can Washington really afford to antagonize a nation that exports nearly a million barrels per day to the U.S.? Should Venezuela turn off the taps, then the recent gasoline prices of nearly $4 a gallon will begin to look like a bargain.

A State Department That Can

By Sean Penn, Jun 8th 2011

With due respect to the United States Department of State and Secretary Clinton, in regards to economic sanctions leveled under CISADA on Venezuela and six other foreign entities. Among the affected countries, only Venezuela is a nation in abject poverty. Oil is its primary export and the exceptionally devastating impact upon its people should be of specific consideration.

“Yankees, Go Home!”

By Cindy Sheehan, Jun 5th 2011

I am in Caracas, Vz today (May 29th)—a country I love and a people that I support with all my heart in their struggle against US imperialism and corporate interests so they can make their own lives better. Nine of us came from the US to support the people of Venezuela in rejecting the US economic sanctions that were imposed by the State Departments because, apparently, Venezuela sent two shipments of oil product to Iran.

New WikiLeaked Cables Reveal How Washington and Big Oil Fought PetroCaribe in Haiti

By Haiti Liberti, Jun 2nd 2011

How did Haiti’s “indispensable man” René Préval become so dispensable? A review of PetroCaribe’s genesis and the U.S. Embassy’s response to it provides a window into understanding why the U.S. has been so forceful in backing the U.S.-centric Martelly team over Préval’s two-timing sector.

CITGO Launches 2011 Fueling Good Program to Reward Local Heroes

By CITGO news release, Jun 2nd 2011

Previous winner of CITGO's "Fueling Good" competition, Bess the Book Bus, with kindergarten children and CITGO re

Despite the recent unilateral U.S. sanctions against Venezuelan state oil company Pdvsa, the company’s Houston-based subsidiary CITGO launched its 2011 ‘Fueling Good’ programme this week for the third year running.

Interview: “When They Shoot at Venezuela, They’re Also Shooting at OPEC”

By MinCi and Álvaro Silva Calderón , May 31st 2011

Interview with Álvaro Silva Calderón, former General Secretary of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) during the 2002-2003 period. Calderón discusses the U.S. State Department's recently imposed unilateral sanctions against Venezuela's PDVSA, the attack on OPEC and Venezuela's struggle to maintain sovereignty over its abundant natural resources.

US Sanctions on PDVSA - Latest Imperialist Provocation

By Jorge Martín - In Defence of Marxism, May 27th 2011

On Tuesday May 25, the US imposed penalties against Venezuelan state-owned company PDVSA, and another 6 companies from other countries, for conducting business with Iran. The sanctions are part of an attempt by Washington to step up the pressure against Iran in relation to its nuclear program. They are also an act of blatant bullying directed against Venezuela.

Interview: New Petrol Law Will Ensure that Profits from Crude-Oil Exports are Distributed to the People

By MinCi and teleSUR, May 26th 2011

Venezuela's Minister of Energy and Oil, Rafael Ramirez (Photo: Agencies).

In this interview translated by Venezuelanalysis, Venezuela's Minister of Energy and Oil, Rafael Ramirez, spoke to teleSUR reporters about the new “Special Contribution Law for the Extraordinary and Exorbitant Prices of Oil." Ramirez explains how the new law will promote the fair distribution of profits from the oil industry in the social areas that require the greatest level of investment from the Venezuelan state.

President Hugo Chávez, backed by South American Presidents, Condemns the Attack on Libya

By Les Blough - Axis of Logic, Mar 21st 2011

Protesters gathered outside of the Libyan Embassy in Caracas on Sunday, 20 March 2011, to stand in solidarity with the Libyan pe

On Saturday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez told South Americans on VTV and TeleSur that the attack on Libya by the West’s “men of war” is aimed at seizing the North African country’s oil reserves.

Also over the weekend, Venezuelan students and representatives of the Latin American left expressed their open rejection of the NATO attack on Libya's national sovereignty. SEE: Editor's Note.

From Latin America to the Arab World – What’s going on in Libya?

By Santiago Alba Rico & Alma Allende - Rebelion, Mar 3rd 2011

Young people gather in the Libyan city of Ajdabiya as part of ongoing demonstrations for change in the North African nation (arc

We might describe the situation like this: in a part of the world linked once again to strong internal solidarities and from which only lethargy or fanaticism was expected, a wave of popular uprisings have arisen which have threatened to topple the allies of Western powers in the region, one after the other.

Rentier Consciousness

By Antonio Aponte, Jan 13th 2011

In Venezuela, an oil rentier nation, the revolution has many very unique characteristics. Here, exploitation acquires more a quality of plunder than the appropriation of others' labour. That is, the bourgeoisie, the privileged class, arises and sustains itself by thriving on oil income, more than it does by sucking workers' blood. So the dispute is more about oil income than liberation from the exploitation of work.

ALBA: How Much of a Turn to the Left in Latin American Governance and Economic Policy?

By Christina DeFeo - Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), Jul 19th 2010

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) regional integration model is based on a solidaristic approach to trade among member states. However, the over-dependence on Venezuelan oil could mean it has an uncertain future as sustainable integration project.