Russia's Rosneft Oil Company announces termination of its activity in Venezuela

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

Unexpected news.  Posting article in full, because the Sputnik website seems to be having difficulties.

Russia's Rosneft Oil Company Announces Termination of Its Activity in Venezuela

The Russian oil company's operations in the Latin American country, where it was extracting the heaviest mix of crude in the world, have been complicated since Washington initiated a campaign to oust democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro. The US namely introduced sanctions on companies working in the Venezuelan oil sector.

Russia’s Rosneft oil company has announced that it is selling 100% of its rights in all Venezuelan oil projects to a company owned solely by the Russian government. Rosneft will receive 9.6% of its shares, currently held by the government, in exchange for these rights. The sale means that Rosneft will cease all of its operations in the Latin American country.

In the official statement, the company's spokesman clarified that the decision was made in the interest of all of Rosneft's shareholders. He added that the oil company is waiting for the Venezuela-related sanctions to be lifted by the US Treasury as per its own promises.

The Kremlin has not yet announced what it intends to do with the newly acquired assets. Among these assets are shares in Venezuela’s Petromonagas, Petroperija, Boqueron, Petromiranda, and Petrovictoria oil companies.

The Venezuelan oil sector has been hit hard by American sanctions for the last two years, as the Donald Trump administration has sought to oust the country's democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro. Washington has namely tried to cut the ties of all foreign companies with the Venezuelan energy sector to stop the influx of money into the country's economy, which has been struggling with a crisis for several years in a row.

As a part of these attempts, the White House sanctioned two Rosneft-related companies, Rosneft Trading S.A. and TNK Trading International, over allegedly running operations with Venezuelan oil companies.

 

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

Hard to sanction the Kremlin 

[El Nikko + 2,145]

They will hold it as leverage for up and coming negotiations.

I would imagine that when/if it happens the main subjects for discussion for the Russians will be sanctions (obviously) and Ukraine.

 

[waltz + 140]

Tom, 

You may have missed it but Maduro et al. were indicted in the US late this week.  Kremlin is better positioned to deal with this further complication than Rosneft.  Not that Venezuela is producing anything at a profit at the moment and are not likely to increase production meaningfully without billions of dollars in investment.

 

https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/venezuela-president-drug-trafficking-indictment/

 

sorry can not see where to create an account on my phone but apparently I am able to post as a guest.

      Waltz 

[ronwagn + 6,290]

6 hours ago, El Nikko said:

They will hold it as leverage for up and coming negotiations.

I would imagine that when/if it happens the main subjects for discussion for the Russians will be sanctions (obviously) and Ukraine.

 

If they were to pull out of Ukraine including Crimea maybe we could talk about it. Not until then.

[ronwagn + 6,290]

6 hours ago, Ward Smith said:

Hard to sanction the Kremlin 

We have done it since the Ukraine/Crimea takeover by Russia. The Ruble is at an all time low versus the dollar and Russia is sinking.

My Russia topic https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TNLgFNBS_jURlZiqkdZfYjG6DoGiYbcwcdn1e-62rUM/edit

[El Nikko + 2,145]

3 minutes ago, ronwagn said:

If they were to pull out of Ukraine including Crimea maybe we could talk about it. Not until then.

That would probably be a red line for them, I'm not taking their side although they have often said if Ukraine was neutral they could accept some compromise. Crimea is far too important to them though. Membership of NATO etc would be considered to be a very agressive move by the Russians.

The reason for that is because historically there are two routes for invading armies to attempt to conquer Russia (from Napoleon to Hitler) one is the great planes of Europe and the other via the Steps of Ukraine. It's short distance to Moscow and the Urals from there.

I can dig some resources up if anyone is interested explaining this. Also you can understand why the US spent so much time investing in Poland which is now considered to be a much more reliable partner than Germany.

I think Strafor have videos on youtube which talk about the strategic pros and cons for different countries.

 

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

6 hours ago, El Nikko said:

They will hold it as leverage for up and coming negotiations.

I would imagine that when/if it happens the main subjects for discussion for the Russians will be sanctions (obviously) and Ukraine.

 

By that time I would hope that the US supply chain has marginalized Venezuela.

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

Just now, El Nikko said:

That would probably be a red line for them, I'm not taking their side although they have often said if Ukraine was neutral they could accept some compromise. Crimea is far too important to them though. Membership of NATO etc would be considered to be a very agressive move by the Russians.

The reason for that is because historically there are two routes for invading armies to attempt to conquer Russia (from Napoleon to Hitler) one is the great planes of Europe and the other via the Steps of Ukraine. It's short distance to Moscow and the Urals from there.

I can dig some resources up if anyone is interested explaining this. Also you can understand why the US spent so much time investing in Poland which is now considered to be a much more reliable partner than Germany.

I think Strafor have videos on youtube which talk about the strategic pros and cons for different countries.

 

Perhaps...but who the hell wants to invade Russia! That dog won’t hunt!

[El Nikko + 2,145]

1 minute ago, Douglas Buckland said:

By that time I would hope that the US supply chain has marginalized Venezuela.

Good place to relocate those factories coming back from China along with other South American countries.

I can't see the current government in Venezuela hanging on for much longer and the Russians probably don't care about them, they've just used it as a political stunt to show they are still able to fly strategic bombers around the world.

Things are hotting up all over the place

[El Nikko + 2,145]

4 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

Perhaps...but who the hell wants to invade Russia! That dog won’t hunt!

I know but they don't think like that they are very paranoid knowing they no longer have any buffer states between them and Europe.

One of my friends is Russian, he doesn't like the government and doesn't live there but he told me there is an awful lot of talk in Russia about war and there has been the last few months.

And I totally agree who the hell would want to follow in Napoleon or Hitlers footsteps? I can't see Mutty Merkel having a pop 😂

Edited March 29, 2020 by El Nikko

[El Nikko + 2,145]

33 minutes ago, ronwagn said:

If they were to pull out of Ukraine including Crimea maybe we could talk about it. Not until then.

This is better that decyphering what I've written

In that playlst are other interesting videos in the same format including Russia and China etc

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

8 hours ago, Tom Kirkman said:

Unexpected news.  Posting article in full, because the Sputnik website seems to be having difficulties.

Russia's Rosneft Oil Company Announces Termination of Its Activity in Venezuela

The Russian oil company's operations in the Latin American country, where it was extracting the heaviest mix of crude in the world, have been complicated since Washington initiated a campaign to oust democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro. The US namely introduced sanctions on companies working in the Venezuelan oil sector.

Russia’s Rosneft oil company has announced that it is selling 100% of its rights in all Venezuelan oil projects to a company owned solely by the Russian government. Rosneft will receive 9.6% of its shares, currently held by the government, in exchange for these rights. The sale means that Rosneft will cease all of its operations in the Latin American country.

In the official statement, the company's spokesman clarified that the decision was made in the interest of all of Rosneft's shareholders. He added that the oil company is waiting for the Venezuela-related sanctions to be lifted by the US Treasury as per its own promises.

The Kremlin has not yet announced what it intends to do with the newly acquired assets. Among these assets are shares in Venezuela’s Petromonagas, Petroperija, Boqueron, Petromiranda, and Petrovictoria oil companies.

The Venezuelan oil sector has been hit hard by American sanctions for the last two years, as the Donald Trump administration has sought to oust the country's democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro. Washington has namely tried to cut the ties of all foreign companies with the Venezuelan energy sector to stop the influx of money into the country's economy, which has been struggling with a crisis for several years in a row.

As a part of these attempts, the White House sanctioned two Rosneft-related companies, Rosneft Trading S.A. and TNK Trading International, over allegedly running operations with Venezuelan oil companies.

 

 

 

Hi Tom,

How are you these days? Hope all is well.

Only the current US President has been able to hit the Russkies in their oily pocket books!!!!

The directed US sanctions are working. Would  a President who colluded with Russia do this? NO!

[ronwagn + 6,290]

1 hour ago, El Nikko said:

That would probably be a red line for them, I'm not taking their side although they have often said if Ukraine was neutral they could accept some compromise. Crimea is far too important to them though. Membership of NATO etc would be considered to be a very agressive move by the Russians.

The reason for that is because historically there are two routes for invading armies to attempt to conquer Russia (from Napoleon to Hitler) one is the great planes of Europe and the other via the Steps of Ukraine. It's short distance to Moscow and the Urals from there.

I can dig some resources up if anyone is interested explaining this. Also you can understand why the US spent so much time investing in Poland which is now considered to be a much more reliable partner than Germany.

I think Strafor have videos on youtube which talk about the strategic pros and cons for different countries.

 

I used to subscribe to Stratfor. They have good information but I lost respect for them when they were hacked and gave away all their subscribers info. 

My comment was sort of tongue in cheek. I don't think it will ever happen. I just want it to continue to cost them. I hate to hurt the Russian people but hopefully Putin will change his ways. I always thought he should align with the West. China will buy the lowest priced energy regardless. Putin has a lot of influence in Europe, especially with the Merkel but even with the populists.

Edited March 29, 2020 by ronwagn
addition

[KeyboardWarrior + 527]

Yay!

[ronwagn + 6,290]

1 hour ago, Douglas Buckland said:

Perhaps...but who the hell wants to invade Russia! That dog won’t hunt!

I don't think anyone suggested that! I just want them to stop their aggressions and get out of Venezuela. Maduro is not a legitimately elected leader. He did a political coup by taking over the Supreme Court. He completely changed it. 

[El Nikko + 2,145]

22 minutes ago, ronwagn said:

I used to subscribe to Stratfor. They have good information but I lost respect for them when they were hacked and gave away all their subscribers info. 

My comment was sort of tongue in cheek. I don't think it will ever happen. I just want it to continue to cost them. I hate to hurt the Russian people but hopefully Putin will change his ways. I always thought he should align with the West. China will buy the lowest priced energy regardless. Putin has a lot of influence in Europe, especially with the Merkel but even with the populists.

Yes sorry, I wasn't argueing against you but we're probably on the same page or a similar one, I don't think I've ever spoken to anyone outside of this forum that knew what Strafor was.

I think the populists in Europe do see Putin in a slightly positive light but only because the EU acts like the USSR. If the EU dies and it's sure doing a good job of killing itself I think there will be a process of countries forming new alliances such as the Visigrad group etc. I have no idea what Germany will do they have a historic dependence with Russia in a strange way but may have to chose sides. I agree with you as well, it would be nice if we could work with the Russians as like you I don't see them as an enemy and they probably weaker than people probably realise and certainly nothing compared with the Soviet Union.

My feeling is all attention is turning very quickly towards China now and they are probably the main foe of the West. The Japanese were relocating missiles to some islands just the other day and the Chinese have been making agressive moves against Tawanise aircraft as well. Probably all posturing but the days of the Chinese ripping everyone off are probably over.

I was listening to Steve Bannon the other night, he really has become very hawkish towards the Chinese in the last couple of years.

Now I realise why we've been building two aircraft carriers and NO Doug they are not built by Dyson!

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by El Nikko

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

12 minutes ago, ronwagn said:

I don't think anyone suggested that! I just want them to stop their aggressions and get out of Venezuela. Maduro is not a legitimately elected leader. He did a political coup by taking over the Supreme Court. He completely changed it. 

Ron, I was addressing the apparent Russian rational, in the Ukraine and elsewhere, where they seek to keep ‘buffer states’ to prevent another invasion of Russia (see comments by Nikko).

Nobody actually suggested invading Russia.

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

 

”Now I realise why we've been building two aircraft carriers and NO Doug they are not built buy Dyson!“

 

Well, a Wimpie designed aircraft carrier should be interesting!😂

(That’s a joke mate! Calm down!)

 

Didn’t know that you guys were building two new carriers...good job!

 

If I’m not mistaken you are also building a new state of the art submarine now also.

 

Now if you could just do something about that cuisine...🤔

[ronwagn + 6,290]

37 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

Ron, I was addressing the apparent Russian rational, in the Ukraine and elsewhere, where they seek to keep ‘buffer states’ to prevent another invasion of Russia (see comments by Nikko).

Nobody actually suggested invading Russia.

I think Russia uses their faux paranoia as a reason to stop border countries from being independent from them. Maybe I am the paranoid one. Nah. 

[ronwagn + 6,290]

30 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

 

”Now I realise why we've been building two aircraft carriers and NO Doug they are not built buy Dyson!“

 

Well, a Wimpie designed aircraft carrier should be interesting!😂

(That’s a joke mate! Calm down!)

 

Didn’t know that you guys were building two new carriers...good job!

 

If I’m not mistaken you are also building a new state of the art submarine now also.

 

Now if you could just do something about that cuisine...🤔

Roos on the barbie?

[0R0 + 6,251]

2 hours ago, Douglas Buckland said:

 

”Now I realise why we've been building two aircraft carriers and NO Doug they are not built buy Dyson!“

 

Well, a Wimpie designed aircraft carrier should be interesting!😂

(That’s a joke mate! Calm down!)

 

Didn’t know that you guys were building two new carriers...good job!

 

If I’m not mistaken you are also building a new state of the art submarine now also.

 

Now if you could just do something about that cuisine...🤔

Those are missing their support vessels, I don't know if Britain can afford to finish building them. Their separate electronics (radar etc.) destroyers antimissile ships countermeasures platforms and destroyers. The carrier itself is not enough. The carrier group of support ships makes the carrier more than just a big target. 

[0R0 + 6,251]

2 hours ago, ronwagn said:

I think Russia uses their faux paranoia as a reason to stop border countries from being independent from them. Maybe I am the paranoid one. Nah. 

True. But they do have the historical reasons for paranoia. But their  real problem is that their demographics keep sinking. Putin did substantial cleanup work in the kleptocracy. But it isn't enough and his own power base requires him to be corrupt himself, not that he was lacking in aptitude from day one. 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

5 hours ago, ceo_energemsier said:

Hi Tom,

How are you these days? Hope all is well.

Only the current US President has been able to hit the Russkies in their oily pocket books!!!!

The directed US sanctions are working. Would  a President who colluded with Russia do this? NO!

Spot on.  Clinton Collusion would be more accurate.

[James Regan + 1,776]

6 hours ago, ronwagn said:

If they were to pull out of Ukraine including Crimea maybe we could talk about it. Not until then.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/time-for-ukraine-to-exit-russias-energy-empire/