Monthly Archives: December 2010

It’s been public knowledge for years that Pride International Corp. allegedly bribed someone at PDVSA. But this document (linked from the FCPA Professor blog) is the first time I’ve seen how the scheme (no longer just alleged, as Pride has … Continue reading →

Chigüire Bipolar in fine form. An attempt to translate real news follows. The U.S. and Venezuela are facing a new crisis following the U.S.’s visa revocation against Venezuela’s ambassador. Adding to the tension is Venezuela’s aggressive response: Increasing oil output … Continue reading →

Venezuela’s National Electricity System Administration Center (Centro Nacional de Gestión del Sistema Eléctrico) was the raw material for a lot of posts in the first months of this website. As Venezuela passed through its deepest electricity crisis in years, the … Continue reading →

Brazil President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva is being honored in an odd way — Petrobras is renaming the huge and game-changing Tupi oilfield “Lula.” Yes, the field will enrich Brazil. But it will also spend the next few decades … Continue reading →

Disasters are awful useful. In Venezuela and Colombia, presidents have used flooding as a pretext for implementing 18 months of decree power. While this is usually portrayed as absolute dictatorial power, as I understand it’s essentially a fast-track authority, allowing … Continue reading →

Hi, this has little to do with Latin America energy and commodities. Did the full moon provoke today’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan? Most reputable scientists say that there’s no solid correlation between moon gravity and earthquake frequency. But I … Continue reading →

Venezuela’s government published a joint venture agreement between PDVSA and Petropars, Iran’s state oil company, to pump crude from the Dobokubi field southeast of the town of El Tigre, Anzoategui. So far so good, no news here. So why am … Continue reading →

It seemed like a coincidence that Collahuasi, the world’s third-biggest copper mine, went from a strike right into a port shutdown. But according to this report in La Alternativa, there are those who say the company’s use of scabs to … Continue reading →

A couple news items of note regarding potential changes of control over refineries owned or used by Petroleos de Venezuela SA, Venezuela’s state oil company. Neither of these are serious issues, though they could become serious one day.

Mexico gangsters have been known to steal gold, money and of course people. Now, they may be stealing oil. As in the Niger Delta and other places with endemic oil theft, the results can be disastrous. Best of luck to … Continue reading →