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[SFA_AOK]

From the Greg Palast mailing list...

NO MORE CHEAP OIL SAYS CHAVEZ
BBC Newsnight
Monday April 3, 2006

If you thought high oil prices were just a blip think again. In an exclusive interview with Greg Palast for BBC Newsnight the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has ruled out any return to the era of cheap oil.

The colourful Venezuelan leader hosts the OPEC meeting on June 1 in Caracas and he will ask OPEC to set $50 a barrel - the average price last year - as the long term level. During the 1990s the price of oil had hovered around the $20 mark falling as low as $10 a barrel in early 1999.

Chavez told Newsnight "we're trying to find an equilibrium. The price of oil could remain at the low level of $50. That's a fair price it's not a high price". Hugo Chavez will have added clout at this OPEC meeting.

US Department of Energy analyses seen by Newsnight show that at $50 a barrel Venezuela - not Saudi Arabia - will have the biggest oil reserves in OPEC. Venezuela has vast deposits of extra heavy oil in the Orinoco. Traditionally these have not been counted because at $20 a barrel they were too expensive to exploit - but at $50 a barrel melting them into liquid petroleum becomes extremely profitable.

The US DoE report shows that at today's prices Venezuela's oil reserves are bigger than those of the entire Middle East including Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, Iran and Iraq. The US DoE also identifies Canada as another future oil superpower. Venezuela's deposits alone could extend the oil age for another 100 years.

The US DoE estimates that Chavez controls 1.3 trillion barrels of oil - more than the entire declared oil reserves of the rest of the planet. Hugo Chavez told Newsnight's Greg Palast that "Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. In the future Venezuela won't have any more oil - but that's in the 22nd century. Venezuela has oil for 200 years." Chavez will ask the OPEC meeting in June to formally accept that Venezuela's reserves are now bigger than Saudi Arabia's.

Chavez's increased muscle will not go down well in Washington. In 2002 the Bush administration welcomed an attempted coup against Chavez. He told Newsnight that the Americans had organised it in an attempt to get hold of Venezuela's oil.

Ironically by invading Iraq George Bush has boosted oil prices and effectively transferred billions of dollars from American consumers to Chavez. Up to $200 million a day - half of it from the US - is flooding into Caracas. Chavez is spending this on building infrastructure and increasing the minimum wage and improving health and education in the poor ranchos which surround the cities. As a result even his opponents accept that Chavez is extremely popular and will easily win the next Presidential election in December.

Chavez is also spending billions in the rest of Latin America - exchanging contracts for oil tankers and infrastructure projects and buying up loans in Argentina and Brazil. He has made cheap oil deals with Ecuador and the Caribbean.

He has also spent some of the dollars which have come in from the US supporting Fidel Castro in Cuba. In return Cuba has supplied the thousands of doctors and teachers who are transforming conditions in the barrios of Caracas. Washington accuses Chavez of buying influence in Latin America.

The Newsnight team had to endure the long speeches and marathon six hour TV shows which Hugo Chavez delights in. Chavez posed for Newsnight posing with the sword of Simon Bolivar the 18th century liberator who drove out Spanish imperialists from South America. The symbolism was clear but behind the showman is a clever political brain.

Chavez has not invaded any foreign countries. He does not have secret prisons at home or abroad. Chavez has repeatedly won democratic elections and the opposition operates freely although some members have been charged with accepting illegal foreign donations. Nonetheless George Bush's administration repeatedly targets Chavez on human rights and finances his opponents.

Earlier this year US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld compared Chavez to Hitler - because he was elected democratically - and last year the influential American evangelist Pat Robertson called for his assassination. Robertson later apologized and said that he did not "necessarily" have to be killed so long as he was kidnapped by American special forces.

Chavez told Newsnight that he was still concerned that George Bush had not learnt the lessons of Iraq and would order an invasion to try to secure Venezuela's oil. "I pray this will not happen because US soldiers will bite the dust and so will we, Venezuelans". He warned that any such attempt would lead to a prolonged guerilla war and an end to oil production. "The US people should know there will be no oil for anyone".

Chavez does not accept Tony Blair's criticism of him for lining up with Fidel Castro. He told Newsnight "if someone is sleeping together it is Bush and Blair. They share the same bed."

--
Also see The Guardian story about the report: http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1745467,00.html

 

[Ghost]

Chavez FTUltimateW!

 

[radioheadrule83]

The US DoE also identifies Canada as another future oil superpower.

Canada should think aboot securing its borders!

I love his bite the dust line.

 

[Templar Wizard]

I CANNOT wait to hear the State dept's comments on this.
The facts cannot be disbuted.
-he was democratically elected (but evilly, he does seem to help the lower classes [the popular vote] in order to get re-elected)
-the administration wants him out. (Powells delicious quote)

 

[kammy]

Chavez is an international hero and everything that Americans should look upto.

Its nice to see the oil wealth helping the people instead of rich old men in texan back offices smoking illegal cuban cigars.

I can see why america hates him so much.

 

[gofreak]

-he was democratically elected (but evilly, he does seem to help the lower classes [the popular vote] in order to get re-elected)

I'm guessing this is sarcasm

I've no idea about Chavez's history, but this article paints him in a fairly decent light. Spending oil money on infrastructure, health and education? OMGWTF, the dastard!

 

[SFA_AOK]

I'll confess, I posted this partly because I know (actually, I think) GAF is split on Chavez. I actually don't know that much about him, I think a lot of debate went on while I was away from GAF and I've been very busy these last 9 months that I've not been able to keep up with politics like I might do if I had some more free time.

But Palast is a reporter I respect and trust.

 

[sefskillz]

I've still got shock and awe action working that GAF'ers actually like Chavez.

 

[Grug]

Chavez is brilliant.

He's got the oil America wants but he has made his country American Foreign policy proof.

If America want Venezualan oil, they can't just come and get it this time, they are going to pay for it.

 

[DDayton]

Is Chavez the one who was rumored to be tied to a rigged election, or am I thinking of a different South American nation?

 

[ToxicAdam]

Hugo Chavez told Newsnight's Greg Palast that "Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. In the future Venezuela won't have any more oil - but that's in the 22nd century. Venezuela has oil for 200 years."

But .. but .. peak oil??! 2020 is supposed to be the end of the party! What's going on here, Triumph told me it was true.


This Chavez is off his rocker. Doesn't he know that George Bush and his Oil cronies are the ones who set market prices? Ask any liberal.

 

[el jacko]

Is Chavez the one who was rumored to be tied to a rigged election, or am I thinking of a different South American nation?

My understanding of South American politics is that everyone is tied to a rigged election. But yes, he has been accused of election fraud.

 

[Scrow]

cool. hopefully this quickens the transition to an alternative fuel... whatever that might be.

 

[fortified_concept]

Is Chavez the one who was rumored to be tied to a rigged election, or am I thinking of a different South American nation?

Actually the US goverment and the right-wing corporate dependent parties, managed to create this rumor. What will you do when a nation is so self-aware that Chavez's victory is so certain? Withdraw from the elections by claiming that the elections *will* be rigged and spread rumors against Chavez. And since these parties control the media -or to be exact the media owners control these parties- these rumors spread easily. Doen't mean they're true though.

 

[bob_arctor]

Earlier this year US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld compared Chavez to Hitler - because he was elected democratically - and last year the influential American evangelist Pat Robertson called for his assassination. Robertson later apologized and said that he did not "necessarily" have to be killed so long as he was kidnapped by American special forces.

:lol :lol Wow. Just wow.

 

[Instigator]

Chavez does more good than harm. It's great to have a man who stands up for himself and his country, something sorely missing in this region of the world. Chavez does like to parade and posture a lot, but that's expected from a populist. Though largely unproven and not having the benefit of ridiculous amount of oil riches, Morales in Bolivia is also promising.

But something even pro-Chavez will admit is that there's no credible opposition to him. For now, it's not really a problem, but even elected governments which stay too long in power grow complacent and corrupt over time. Venezuala and Latin America have a long history of parties loyal only to rich elites and foreign powers. Washington has that looming presence and influence that undermines the political process in the region, a bit like Putin's Russia does for Ukraine.

 

[BiLo]

The United States always jacks things up. They support the wrong candidates simply because of their ideals. "You're Christian?! They you must be a good leader." Chiang Kai-Shek anyone? The US favored the opponent of Chiang Kai-Shek simply because he was christian. It turns out that China didn't favor the opponent as he was too different from their ideals and went with Chiang Kai-Shek. Almost the same thing happened in the Vietnam War. The US favored Diem very well as he was Christian and had a mind for Democracy. Instead of working with Ho Chi Minh for a better Vietnam, they took to invading them and forcing "Democracy." It turns out Ho Chi Minh's intention was for a revolution against the French-occupying soldiers and to help his nationalist endeavors. He just wanted a Vietnam for his people.

Fast-foward to 2006. The US has supported the Chavez's opponent and even tried to sabotage the election(I think, something dirty like that). This was probably the hugest mistake and impacted everyone significantly. We used to get the majority of our oil from Venezuela but they cut us off. Instead of supporting the non-favorite candidate we should we working with the favorite to ensure garbage like this never happens.

 

[Meier]

I've no idea about Chavez's history, but this article paints him in a fairly decent light.

Imagine that.

 

[madara]

All the more reason to finally advance this area like all other technologies and industries and finally develop new transportation and/or fuel. I imagine its all greed based stopping sincere efforts but I assume is not as bad as the movie Chain Reaction made it out to be.

 

[G4life98]

hopefully this gives more motivation to the current administration to throw even more weight behind alternative fuel sources...its bad enogh we have to prop up all these fucked up regimes in the middle east just to ensure a steady and uninteruppted oil supply and now we have to deal with some deranged robin hood in south america who wants to teach us a lesson.:lol

i cant wait for a day when america can just say "fuck you" to opec's little cartel.