Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Chavez - Cheap Oil for US Poor
The Daily New York News reports (article reproduced at Venezuela Analysis):
In an exclusive interview yesterday, the Venezuelan leader said his country will soon start to ship heating oil and diesel fuel at below market prices to poor communities and schools in the United States.
"We will begin with a pilot project in Chicago on Oct. 14, in a Mexican-American community," said Chavez, who was in town for the United Nations sessions. "We will then expand the program to New York and Boston in November."
....
Venezuela... owns a key U.S. subsidiary called Citgo Petroleum Corp., which has 14,000 gas stations and owns eight oil refineries in this country, none of which was damaged by Katrina. Chavez said he can afford to sharply reduce Citgo's prices by "cutting out the middle man."His plan is to set aside 10% of the 800,000 barrels of oil produced by the Citgo refineries and ship that oil directly to schools, religious organizations and nonprofits in poor communities for distribution.
....
Cutting oil prices must seem like the worst sort of radicalism to the Big Oil companies and their buddies at the Bush-Cheney White House. But ordinary Americans fed up with price gouging by these energy companies could begin to look at Chavez in a different light if his oil-for-the-poor project works.
You can read the first part of this interview here. It's also worth having a look at this transcript of an interview with Chavez on ABC Nightline. Amongst other things Chavez announces that (Venezuelan?) 'military intelligence' has obtained/intercepted US plans for an invasion of Venezuela - plan 'Balboa.' Accordingly, Venezuela is having to construct an anti-Balboa strategy to resist invasion.
In an exclusive interview yesterday, the Venezuelan leader said his country will soon start to ship heating oil and diesel fuel at below market prices to poor communities and schools in the United States.
"We will begin with a pilot project in Chicago on Oct. 14, in a Mexican-American community," said Chavez, who was in town for the United Nations sessions. "We will then expand the program to New York and Boston in November."
....
Venezuela... owns a key U.S. subsidiary called Citgo Petroleum Corp., which has 14,000 gas stations and owns eight oil refineries in this country, none of which was damaged by Katrina. Chavez said he can afford to sharply reduce Citgo's prices by "cutting out the middle man."His plan is to set aside 10% of the 800,000 barrels of oil produced by the Citgo refineries and ship that oil directly to schools, religious organizations and nonprofits in poor communities for distribution.
....
Cutting oil prices must seem like the worst sort of radicalism to the Big Oil companies and their buddies at the Bush-Cheney White House. But ordinary Americans fed up with price gouging by these energy companies could begin to look at Chavez in a different light if his oil-for-the-poor project works.
You can read the first part of this interview here. It's also worth having a look at this transcript of an interview with Chavez on ABC Nightline. Amongst other things Chavez announces that (Venezuelan?) 'military intelligence' has obtained/intercepted US plans for an invasion of Venezuela - plan 'Balboa.' Accordingly, Venezuela is having to construct an anti-Balboa strategy to resist invasion.
