[Mb-civic] Fw: The New World Oil Order: Hugo Chavez Tells BBC, We Have More Oil Than Saudi Arabia

[Patrick Hunter]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Palast" <palast at gregpalast.com>
To: <hunter at sopris.net>
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 10:23 AM
Subject: The New World Oil Order: Hugo Chavez Tells BBC, We Have More Oil 
Than Saudi Arabia


> THE NEW WORLD OIL ORDER:
> HUGO CHAVEZ TELLS BBC, WE HAVE MORE OIL THAN SAUDI ARABIA
> Greg Palast Reporting for BBC Newsnight TV
> Monday, April 3, 2006
>
> In an exclusive interview with GREG PALAST, Hugo Chávez declares a new oil 
> order.
>
> Venezuela officially demands OPEC recognize his nation's reserves as 
> largest.
>
> Tonight, BBC Newsnight will kick off its Latin America Week Special with 
> Palast's exclusive report from Venezuela.
>
> You can watch the BBC Newsnight Report live at 5.30 pm EST at Newsnight's 
> website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm
>
> (The report will remain viewable for 24 hours).
>
> Read below about BBC Newsnight revelations ...
>
>
> 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
>
> Read, "The Assassination of Hugo Chavez," in Greg Palast's new book, 
> "ARMED MADHOUSE: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War" to be 
> released by Penguin Dutton June 6 (US) and July 7 (UK).
>
> Pre-order it today or donate to Palast Investigative Fund for a personally 
> signed copy at: http://www.gregpalast.com/armedmadhouse/preorder.html
>
> View Palast's investigative reports for Harper's Magazine and BBC 
> Television's Newsnight at http://www.GregPalast.com
>
> Special thanks to Matt Pascarella, Leni von Eckardt, and Richard Rowley 
> for their research and production assistance on this report.
>
>
>
> ============================================
> If you would like to have your e-mail address removed from this mailing 
> list. Cut and paste the following URL into your browser address bar. This 
> will automatically remove from the mailing list and you will receive no 
> further mailings.
> http://www.gregpalast.com/emailremove.cfm?id=48668
>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.3.4/299 - Release Date: 3/31/2006
>