Venezuela’s gasoline shortages look like they’re going to be relieved, at least for now. The third of Iran’s three fuel tankers that were dispatched has entered Venezuelan waters this weekend, and the first two tankers have already docked and begun delivery.
Venezuela struggles to produce gasoline itself because of US sanctions. Venezuela’s own oil is incompatible with its refineries, so historically they’ve exported oil, and brought other oil back for refining. The US has virtually prevented this, and seized ships to try to stop Venezuela from keeping itself supplied.
Major shortages were reported across Venezuela lately, which is a problem across the country, but especially in the farming sector, where food production is quite a bit down from where it’s meant to be if all the vehicles were running.
The Iranian tanker flotilla is a chance to bolster Venezuelan ties, as the US won’t let Iran sell to anyone else, and won’t let Venezuela buy from anyone else, and each side has little to lose just trading gold for oil.
Pompeos blood pressure goes up with each arrival!
Good!
I’m wondering how he didn’t catch the virus. I guess his nose being stuck up Trump’s a$$ didn’t do the trick.
Maybe the bastard will have a massive heart attack, or better yet, stroke out. It would be funny to watch him propped up and drooling on himself as a vegetable.
This is so un-Trumpian that one has to wonder what is behind his refusal to order the “arrest” these tankers? Are they Russian-owned?
The previously “seized” tankers weren’t actually “seized.” Their captains and owners — non-Iranians/Venezuelans — were simply told that if they delivered their loads to Venezuela, they and their ships would be sanctioned, so they took the tankers into US ports and handed them over. THESE tankers are actual Iranian tankers with actual Iranian crews. Sanctions don’t scare them because they’re already sanctioned. And they probably had the ships nicely wired up so that if US naval pirates had attempted to physically seize them, the US government will have large oil spills to answer for both legally and in terms of bad public relations.
Trump should arrest the covid virus inside his body first before the virus arrests him permanently….!
Venezuela’s own oil is incompatible with its refineries?
Somehow I find that hard to believe.
I’m not sure what “incompatible with a refinery” would mean, but most of Venezuela’s oil is a heavy crude that can’t be cost-effectively refined into e.g. gasoline unless it’s first diluted with lighter oil.
In fact, that’s one reason US oil companies want so badly for Daddy Donald to seize Venezuela’s oil for them. The US companies can’t profitably produce light sweet crude from shale operations unless world oil prices are kept artificially high. Mixing the expensive shale oil with ultra-cheap Venezuelan heavy crude would drag final product costs down so that maybe they could still turn a profit even when e.g. Saudi Arabia opens the spigots and drives the price down.