Venezuela's PdVSA Sees First African Deals By Year-End

[Warren Stupidity]

Source: Dow Jones

COTONOU, Benin -(Dow Jones)- State run Venezuelan oil company PdVSA on Thursday said it expects to get its first foothold into Africa by the end of the year with investment deals likely with national oil firms in Algeria, Sudan and Benin.

Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA, is in talks with a number of African state oil companies about exploration and refining deals and selling them petroleum products like gasoline, PdVSA Exploration Vice President Luis Vierma told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of an energy conference here.

"(Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez) was just in Algeria and he's planning to go to Sudan soon, and I think we'll have agreements signed by the end of the year," Vierma said, adding that Mali was another country with which PdVSA may clinch a deal.

"We've had good discussions and look forward to establishing a presence here," Vierma said, declining to comment further on details of prospective agreements.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200706211126DOWJONESDJONLINE000745_FORTUNE5.htm

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Oh no! The democratic socialist international is spreading it's nefarious activities around the world, investing in other nation's economies!

[Judi Lynn]

1. Is this a case of deliberate misinformation, or is it stupidity?

First of all, it's necessary to remind people that Venezuela has had a tradition of selling oil to countries which predates Hugo Chavez, and may have started with the "San Jose Accord."

Currently, the list of countries which have been receiving hefty discounts on oil from Venezuela are Carribean countries, and Central American countries which Chavez's government has considered simply hard pressed to pay the cost which wealthier countries can afford, and Venezuela feels its good for the region for these countries to be able to get the oil they desperately need. There are 11 of these countries, not including the recent business Venezuela has been doing with over 20 different states (it may be over 30 by now) in the U.S., as well as over 100 Native American tribes.

Here's what the DowJones article carried by CNN said:

Vierma said none of the deals envisaged Venezuela selling subsidized fuel products to African countries, something Venezuela has been doing for some time with its impoverished neighbor Cuba.
(snip)

That's just a little short of the mark, isn't it?

Seems very damned fishy, drawing a line connecting only Venezuela, Cuba, and Algeria, Sudan and Benin, when so many OTHER people have been involved over a long, LONG time?

Thanks for the article, by the way.