Tuesday, June 06, 2006
The Balance Begins To Shift
Don't look now, but the grip that BushCo and its buddies have on the world's economy -- a grip that's been steadily getting weaker over the years -- will be gone in about three years, or however long it takes Venezuela to get its heavy-oil refineries up and running:
Iran and Venezuela will build an oil refinery at the 'Faga' region in the oil-reach Orinoko province in Venezuela, local new sources said Wednesday. The refinery will be designed to refine heavy oil and produce gasoline and other oil derivatives. Head of Venezuela's Petroleos company said the agreement could be beneficial to both countries. He added the heavy oil in the region could easily be refined at which time Iran will import gasoline from Venezuela.Venezuela has signed a similar deal with India, too. Why is this a Big Deal? Why is there talk of Iran, currently an oil-producing nation, importing gasoline from Venezuela? Because even as the Middle Eastern oil fields' output has peaked and now is starting to decline, Venezuela is sitting on top of what at least one expert thinks is 90% of the world's heavy-oil reserve: a reserve that could fuel the world at present consumption rates for the next hundred years. It wasn't tapped earlier, because it wasn't profitable to do so unless oil was selling for at least $40 a barrel. But oil will never be that cheap again, so the leftist Chavez is now able to tap the heavy-oil reserves -- and pull the rug out from under Bush and his friends, by continuing to use his country's oil wealth to aid fellow Latin American countries, such as Argentina -- whose economy-crippling IMF loans were paid off by Chavez. The balance begins to shift. BushCo and PNAC and the rest of the far-right oilygarchs have three or so years left in them. The collapse will make Enron's fall look like a wet squib.
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