Venezuela is importing oil despite having world's largest reserve

[Bacchus4.0]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/24/2966166/venezuela-is-importing-oil-despite.html

Venezuela, a country that boasts of having the largest oil reserves in the world, is facing an acute scarcity of gasoline due to deterioration of its refinery system, and the huge volume of fuel being smuggled out of the country.

Experts said that Venezuela has shifted from exporter to importer of gasoline under the Hugo Chávez administration, which is forced to import fuel and components to process it from the United States, not only for internal consumption but to allow the state enterprise Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) to fulfill contractual commitments.

The experts fear that the government will choose to ration the fuel because of its inability to contain the contraband and increase production.
In a way, they have already started to do just that, said Juan Fernández, former PDVSA’s executive planning director, referring to a government measure forcing motorists in border states to place a chip in their vehicles to count the amount of gasoline they put in their tanks.
The measure, which generated protests in the state of Zulia, also limits the amount of fuel residents can buy to only 41 liters (10.8 gallons) every two days, to control the massive contraband of gasoline to Colombia.
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“If in Venezuela the price is two cents a liter and in Cúcuta, Colombia, on the other side of the border, is $1.30, you have a difference in price of

Medina said that there are tank trucks and river barges transporting thousands of gallons of gasoline every day across the border to sell them in Colombia, a type of operation that undoubtedly could not be carried out without some degree of complicity by the authorities in charge of watching the border.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/24/2966166/venezuela-is-importing-oil-despite.html#storylink=cpy

[Buzz Clik]

1. Let me get comfortable.

[dipsydoodle]

2. So does Iran

[Bacchus4.0]

3. similar inept governments n/t

s

[dipsydoodle]

4. Nope

Its a refinery issue.

[Bacchus4.0]

5. neglected by similar inept governments

Experts said that the refinery capacity in Venezuela has been dismantled in the last 10 years, first by a Chávez administration decision to sell the PDVSA refineries abroad, and later due to a chain of accidents and maintenance problems in the country’s main refineries.
Meanwhile, Venezuela has not built a refinery since Chávez took power, despite promising to build dozens of them inside the country and abroad. On Tuesday, he again promised two new facilities.
Only one of those promises seems to be materializing for now — the one that forced the Castro brothers to build a refinery in Matanzas, Cuba.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/23/2965352/venezuela-imports-oil-despite.html#storylink=cpy

[dipsydoodle]

6. The one in Matanzas is tiny

Saw it 8 months ago. Not sure it produces what I call petrol anyway.

[naaman fletcher]

7. so...

What happened between when Venezuela didn't import gasoline, and now when it must important gasoline?

What changed?

[Bacchus4.0]

8. a hint, rhymes with Yugo n/t

s

[joshcryer]

9. Gross anti-environmentalism.

[Arctic Dave]

10. I believe they had a refinery explosion

Similar to the several we had in the US this past year.

[joshcryer]

11. Didn't put a dent in our exporting gasoline to them.

To the tune of $200 a barrel which they sell to the people at $5 a barrel.

[Arctic Dave]

12. No, our economic implosion did.

Why do you think Obama has such a hard on for drilling now, it's a jobs program.

[joshcryer]

13. Just a return on investment.

The US developed the fracking technology, might as well get paid for it. Hell, they sunk Lisa Jackson for the EPA because she was against the Keystone pipeline. Business as usual, and Venezuela is right on board as we saw with Rio+20.

[Arctic Dave]

14. Franking was developed by a French company.

Schlumberger pioneered it decades ago.

[naaman fletcher]

15. fracking

I have no idea who first thought of the idea,

But in terms of practical use, it was Mitchell Energy that spent years and years and hundreds of millions to try to make it work in the Barnett Shale, and did. Devon then bought Mitchell.

[joshcryer]

16. The government helped pay for it. $100 million in grants.

Billions in tax breaks (we can't forget the externalized costs here either).

Fracking Developed With Decades Of Government Investment
But those who helped pioneer the technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, recall a different path. Over three decades, from the shale fields of Texas and Wyoming to the Marcellus in the Northeast, the federal government contributed more than $100 million in research to develop fracking, and billions more in tax breaks.

Now, those industry pioneers say their own effort shows that the government should back research into future sources of energy — for decades, if need be — to promote breakthroughs. For all its success now, many people in the oil and gas industry itself once thought shale gas was a waste of time.

"There's no point in mincing words. Some people thought it was stupid," said Dan Steward, a geologist who began working with the Texas natural gas firm Mitchell Energy in 1981. Steward estimated that in the early years, "probably 90 percent of the people" in the firm didn't believe shale gas would be profitable.

"Did I know it was going to work? Hell no," Steward added.

[joshcryer]

17. The deposits in the US wouldn't have been viable without the government.

The fracking guys say as much. See post #16 for a more thorough explanation.

To top it off the frackers love to act as if the technology is clean (despite recent knowledge that they emit 10% of the gas produced right into the atmosphere).

Terry Engelder, a Penn State University geologist known for his enthusiastic support for gas drilling, said the story of how shale gas went from longshot to head of the pack — and how long that took — shows that serious support for renewable energy research makes sense, too.

"These renewables have a huge upside," Engelder said. "In my view, the subsidies are really very appropriate."

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/23/fracking-developed-government_n_1907178.html

Greenwashing at its utter core.

[naaman fletcher]

18. interesting stuff, thanks nt.