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Venezuela Threatens to Cut US Oil
BBC News
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has threatened to cut off oil supplies to the US unless it halts what he calls its “economic war” against his country.0211 06

His warning came days after US oil giant Exxon Mobil won orders in US, UK and Dutch courts to freeze billions of dollars of Venezuelan oil assets.

Exxon wants more compensation from the Chavez government after it took control of Exxon oil projects last year.

The US is the biggest market for Venezuela’s heavy crude oil exports.

President Chavez has threatened several times before to stop sending Venezuelan oil to the US but so far not done so.

Nevertheless, his comments during his weekly televised address, took sharp aim at Exxon Mobil and, by extension, the Bush administration.

He described Exxon’s management as imperialist bandits who form part of a US government-backed campaign to destabilise Venezuela.

“If you end up freezing [Venezuelan] assets and it harms us, we’re going to harm you,” Mr Chavez said.

“Do you know how? We aren’t going to send oil to the US. Take note, Mr Bush, Mr Danger.”

Long dispute

At the heart of the dispute is last year’s decision to take over oil projects in the Orinoco Belt, a move Mr Chavez has argued will bring billions of dollars back to the Venezuelan people.
(11 February 2008)
Also at Common Dreams.

Chávez threatens to end oil exports to U.S.
Simon Romero, International Herald Tribune
President Hugo Chávez has threatened to halt oil exports to the United States if Exxon Mobil succeeds in freezing billions of dollars in foreign petroleum assets controlled by Venezuela.

The warning, which came Sunday, ratchets up a fierce legal dispute between Venezuela and Exxon after Chávez's move to exert greater state control over his country's oil industry last year. Rather than submitting to Venezuela's terms, Exxon withdrew from a major production venture, intensifying the feud.

"The bandits of Exxon Mobil will never rob us again," Chávez said in comments broadcast Sunday on his weekly television program.

He accused Exxon, one of the largest publicly traded oil companies, and the United States of a conspiracy to destabilize Venezuela.
(11 February 2008)

Venezuela moves bank accounts after Exxon embargo
Reuters via Earth Times
Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has moved its export payment accounts to UBS bank in Switzerland, traders said on Monday, after Exxon Mobil Corp secured an embargo of up to $12 billion of PDVSA's global assets.

Exxon Mobil won rulings from courts in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands that froze assets belonging to PDVSA in order to ensure compensation for President Hugo Chavez's takeover of a multibillion-dollar oil project last year.
(11 February 2008)

Daniel Ortega brands Exxon Mobil's move as another US attack
El Universal
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega slashed out at US oil firm Exxon Mobil for launching "a clear offensive of the empire in order to push (Venezuelan state-run oil firm) Pdvsa into bankruptcy," Efe reported.

The Sandinist leader claimed it was not by chance that the US National Security Director Michael McConnell told the US Congress that "the things that are happening in Latin America involve a threat."

According to Ortega, the US intelligence community in a report McConnell presented last February 5 was referring to Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Ecuador, and their Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA).

He added that such remarks come as part of a plan against Venezuela. He added that at the same time Exxon Mobil is winning court orders freezing Pdvsa's assets.

In his view, if Pdvsa goes bankrupt, all of the projects Venezuela is funding to help Nicaragua and other countries in the areas of energy, education, health, and agricultural would die.
(11 February 2008)

Chavez's Big Oil Bluff
Peter Wilson, Business Week
Peeved by Exxon's legal victory, Venezuela's President is threatening to end oil exports to the U.S.-a move that would probably backfire
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is famed for his incendiary oratory. But in his recent threats to cut off oil shipments to the U.S., a move he says could propel world prices to $200 a barrel, he's probably blowing smoke, not fire. The U.S., after all, is the No. 1 market for Venezuela's oil exports. More important, the U.S. is home to refineries specially equipped to handle Venezuela's brand of heavy, high-sulfur crude. Finding other customers for the country's oil in a hurry would hardly be a cinch.

"This threat could backfire for Venezuela and Chavez," says Pietro Pitts, a Caracas-based oil analyst who publishes Latin Petroleum magazine. "Any embargo would hurt Venezuela far more than the U.S. Venezuela supplies about 11% of U.S. oil, but the U.S. accounts for the bulk of Venezuelan oil exports."
(11 February 2008)

Oilsands producers can't fill gap if Venezuela cuts of oil to U.S.: experts
Lauren Krugel, Canadian Press
With Venezuela talking tough about cutting off its oil exports to the United States, the Americans might look to their friendly neighbour to the north - already the No. 1 exporter to the U.S. - for a stable fuel supply.

But the question is whether companies who operate in Northern Alberta's vast oilsands can step up production fast enough to fill the gap should the South American communist state, the fourth largest exporter to the U.S., decide to follow through on its threat.

"The U.S. may have to get supply from other countries, including Canada," said Gordon Laxer, a University of Alberta political economist.

But shortages in labour and pipeline capacity might put a damper on that plan, he said.

"I really don't think that we can ramp up production quickly. We don't have surplus production capacity."
(11 February 2008)