Tag Archives: Puerto La Cruz

Feb
23
2012
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ICYMI: As Others Isolate Syria, Chávez Ships Fuel to It

As Others Isolate Syria, Chávez Ships Fuel to It
The New York Times
February 22, 2012
By William Neuman

CARACAS, Venezuela – A day before the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn President Bashar al-Assad of Syria this month for his bloody crackdown on the uprising in his country, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela was conducting a very different kind of diplomacy on his own.

A ship owned by the Venezuelan state oil company sailed into the Syrian port of Baniyas, its location captured by a satellite system that tracks ship movements. The ship, making its second trip to Baniyas since December, appeared to be carrying fuel to help prop up the embattled Mr. Assad.

The Venezuelan shipment flies in the face of international efforts to isolate Mr. Assad and pressure him to step down, but Mr. Chávez is no stranger to such controversy. Last month, he played host to another Middle Eastern ally, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, ridiculing Western claims that Iran was seeking to be able to produce nuclear weapons.

Still, Mr. Chávez is at the start of what could prove to be a difficult re-election campaign overshadowed by his battle with cancer, and the political equation here may be shifting. While provocative moves like oil shipments to Syria play well among Mr. Chávez’s staunchest backers, they may prove to be a liability among voters who resent his oil tanker diplomacy.

The Venezuelan ship, the Negra Hipólita, arrived in the Syrian port on Feb. 15, according to John H. Paskin, the chief executive of Commodity Flow, a company based in London that compiles satellite data and other information to track the movement of ships.

He said the ship left a Venezuelan refinery complex at Puerto La Cruz on Jan. 25. The Puerto La Cruz complex produces gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and fuel components, according to the Web site of the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, known as P.D.V.S.A.

Mr. Paskin said the tracking data showed that the ship made a previous trip to Syria last fall, leaving a Venezuelan refinery complex on the Paraguana Peninsula on Oct. 15 and arriving at Baniyas on Dec. 1.

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Jul
26
2010
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Chavez threatens U.S. oil cut in Colombia dispute

 ch1 300x197 Chavez threatens U.S. oil cut in Colombia dispute

This article was originally posted by Reuters

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened on Sunday to cut oil supplies to the United States in case of a military attack from Colombia as a dispute escalated over charges his country harbors Colombian rebels.

A vocal and frequent critic of the United States, Chavez broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia last week over the claims by the outgoing government of President Alvaro Uribe, a close U.S. ally.

Chavez, a leftist who says Washington is behind the charges, has never carried out previous threats to cut oil supplies to the United States, Venezuela’s main customer.

“If there was any armed aggression against Venezuela from Colombian territory or from anywhere else, promoted by the Yankee empire, we would suspend oil shipments to the United States, even if we have to eat stones here,” he said.

“We would not send a drop more to U.S. refineries,” he said to a roar of approval from thousands of supporters at a rally for his Socialist party.

Chavez, a former soldier and close ally of Cuba’s Fidel Castro, is also angry with Bogota over a deal to allow U.S. troops access to a series of military bases.

Venezuela, a member of OPEC, gets more than 90 percent of its export income from oil sales, mostly to the United States, and the South American country’s economy would collapse quickly if it stopped shipments.

Speaking from Cuba, Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said the oil industry was on “yellow alert” and prepared to follow Chavez’s orders.

“That’s the first step,” Ramirez said. “We are ready to suspend the shipment of oil and products to the United States if we suffer some type of military aggression.”

Oil workers assembled in the port of Puerto La Cruz were told to prepare themselves and their families for a possible “bellicose imperial” action, state oil company PDVSA said.

 

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