Chavez “Oils” Venezuela’s Ties with China, But At A Cost
May 7th, 2008
Via Stratfor (subscription required), very interesting analysis of PetroChina’s deal with Venezuelan oil company Petroleos de Venezuela to build a 400,000 barrels per day refinery in China’s Guangdong province designed to process Venezuelan bitumen oil (extremely heavy, sour oil) into orimulsion, a fuel developed and patented by PDVSA. The deal allows Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez […]
Read more »Dinosaurs at the Tar Pit: Big Oil as Road Kill on The Hydrocarbon Highway?
February 5th, 2008
From The Times (UK), more news on the decline of Big Oil in favour of government-controlled national oil companies in big producer countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran and Venezuela. The share of the world’s oil reserves controlled by the big Western oil companies, such as BP, Shell and ExxonMobil, has fallen to less […]
Read more »Big Oil: Merging Into the Future?
January 7th, 2008
Having recently examined the possibility of the first Supermajor from the developing world being established (via a link between Angola and Petrobras), we must not forget that Big Oil still exists (even in a marginalized sense). Steve LeVine offers some very interesting thoughts as to what Big Oil may do in light of the rise […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon Deals With Chavez
January 2nd, 2008
An interesting report in the Christian Science Monitor, detailing a new oil exploration deal between China and Venezuela – China’s largest single investment in an overseas energy project to date. And while Venezuela’s motivation is likely political in nature, i.e. it is seeking a strategic geopolitical alliance, China is primarily seeking a steady supply of […]
Read more »Venezuela’s Regional Geopolitics of Oil & The Unsustainability of Petrocaribe
December 30th, 2007
Several articles have recently been tracking Venezuela’s increasing efforts to utilize its energy reserves & expertise to influence politics in Latin America. As Energy Daily points out, Venezuela is helping a Soviet-era oil refinery in Cuba get back online. As the report notes: “…Chavez is an ardent supporter of improving Cuba’s oil-producing capacity in light […]
Read more »Iran and Latin America: An Axis of Unity
December 29th, 2007
An interesting story in The San Antonio Express-News on Iran’s recent partnership with Nicaragua and Venezuela to help finance a $350 million deep-water port on Nicaragua’s wild Caribbean shore, and then plow a connecting “dry canal” corridor of pipelines, rails and highways across the country to the populous Pacific Ocean. The dry canal scheme has […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.