Energy & social "self-help" in Latin America

it's gratifying to watch latin american countries coming together in an atmosphere of mutual assistance... however, i can't help but feel that the u.s. will take a dim view of these kinds of efforts because 1) they are local and regional initiatives, largely independent of u.s. influence; 2) allocation of energy production within latin america is likely to mean a future reduction in oil and gas exports to the u.s.; and 3) the person driving a lot of it is president hugo chavez of venezuela, currently no. 1 on the white house's latin american shit list... chavez isn't anybody's definition of a shrinking violet as a couple of my more recent posts (here and here) amply demonstrate...

During the Andean Community summit this week in Lima, the participating leaders approved Venezuela's proposal to create Petroandina, a ”strategic alliance” of state-owned energy companies in the bloc's five member countries - Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela - aimed at ”promoting electric power and natural gas interconnection, the mutual provision of energy resources and joint investment in projects.”

[...]

In June, Venezuela reached an agreement with Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Suriname and ten English-speaking Caribbean nations to create Petrocaribe, through which it will sell 170,000 barrels of crude oil a day (including 98,000 to Cuba) with soft credits for 30 to 40 percent of the total.

Chávez is also promoting a similar energy alliance, known as Petrosur, with the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) nations, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

All of these agreements are based on Venezuelan offers and proposals, from putting its oil reserves (roughly 360 billion barrels of crude) ”at the disposal” of its neighbours, to providing urgently needed refining services.

Submit To Propeller
Tweet