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Chávez’s oil largesse winning fans abroad
Sara Miller Llana and Mark Rice-Oxley, Christian Science Monitor
London is the latest city to get a fuel deal as part of the Venezuelan leader’s ’21st century socialism.’
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MEXICO CITY AND LONDON – The London bus has come to symbolize many things over the years. It’s a national icon, a picture postcard paragon of public transport, a byword for frustration and irregularity.
But a harbinger of international socialism? Far-fetched perhaps, but less so after the latest move by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez to offer cut-rate fuel so that 250,000 Londoners on welfare can travel half-price throughout one of the world’s most expensive cities.
The double-decker trademark isn’t the only trace of Mr. Chávez’s so-called “21st century socialism:” For the past year residents in New York, Boston, and other major US cities have scored cheaper heating bills, thanks to Venezuela. Chávez has also sent cheap oil to Cuba, Nicaragua, and more than a dozen other countries.
His offerings go beyond oil and have been announced with particular frenzy since he won a third term in December, promising $500 million in financing for Ecuador, $135 million for a dairy cooperative in Argentina, and a development plan in Nicaragua that includes generators to ease blackouts as well as a new development bank.
Analysts say his projects both in Latin America and beyond are singular among leaders sitting on vast energy reserves, as Chávez sets out to create a counterbalance to US dominance with a flurry of deals, measures, gifts, and grandiose schemes. To his harshest critics he’s an egomaniac using an “energy bribe” to inflate his reputation. To fans he’s the consummate humanitarian. Both agree that his moves have amounted to a PR coup, and some analysts even say the fallout could lead to a shift in social, economic, and political balances across the region.
(5 March 2007)
Why Iraq’s new oil law won’t last
David R. Francis. Christian Science Monitor
It faces strong opposition, companies reluctant to get involved, and corruption – and may be contested as invalid.
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With considerable fanfare, Iraq’s cabinet last week announced approval of a draft law that would permit foreign investment in the nation’s oil industry and provide for distribution of oil revenues among the regions and thus the country’s main sectarian blocs.
Details of the draft are tricky. Revenues from current oil fields are to be shared according to population. Yet no recent census has been taken. The Kurdish region in the north and the provinces can sign new oil contracts, but these must be reviewed by an independent federal committee, not yet appointed. There is concern that foreign oil companies might try to get better terms by playing the provinces against one another.
But some oil experts are skeptical of the significance of the measure.
“It will not mean anything on the ground,” says A.F. Alhajji, an oil economist at Ohio Northern University in Ada. As long as Iraq suffers from political instability, major oil companies will shy away. “The situation is so bad no one in his right mind wants to go there to be attacked or nationalized a second time.”
Fearing the consequences, “The oil companies never supported the invasion,” Dr. Alhajji adds.
Iraq’s oil remains important to a world highly reliant on petroleum and its byproducts.
(5 March 2007)
What would peace in the Middle East mean for the oil price?
Peter J. Cooper, AME Info
The international conference convened in Baghdad for March 10 represents an important first step to finding a lasting solution to the chaos of Iraq since the US invasion four years ago. But if the Middle East can summon the political will to deal with this situation will this not cause a fall in the oil price?
(5 March 2007)
